A Gift From The Future
by Nebel Engel
Summary: A child travels to the past and meets his mother, Hermione Granger. Without realizing he actually is in the past, he attempts to get to know her. And it might be a chance to get to know his father, Draco Malfoy, too. DM/HM set after Voldermort's defeat
1. When the Bell Tolls

It was a day like any other when Hermione Granger was awakened by the bell at her London apartment. She looked at the clock she had on her night table. It was 6 am. Hearing that the visitor wasn't intending on leaving, she got up biting her lip, and put on a robe to answer to door.

She woke up completely once she looked through the cracked door: she hadn't seen Draco Malfoy in four years.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here?" She asked as she swung the door open. She looked at him up and down, he was very well dressed despite the time, and by his side, there was a little boy who couldn't be older than eight. She barely had the time to realize the boy was identical to him.

"I'm here to return your son." He moved his left hand to point at the boy, who barely reached his waist, "Thank me by keeping him away from my house."

"What are you talking about, Malfoy? It's too early for jokes."

"Look, I am not interested in any sort of problems you might have in your home…" as he said that, he put a hand on the door and pushed Hermione aside. "It's none of my business, but I have no need of meeting with your little surprises."

"But… what are you doing?" She complained when she saw how Malfoy made the boy go in; the little one never stopped looking at her with wide eyes, and never said a word.

"And, if something like this happens again, I am calling social services." Thus, he turned around and tried to leave, but Hermione stopped him by reaching his arm.

"Wait! What do you think are you doing? I don't have kids!"

Draco turned around slowly to look at her face with a distinct expression of spite. "Well, me neither, and I am not willing to take care of one that claims to be yours."

He reached for the hand that was touching his arm and took it off.

"Malfoy! You can't come here at 6 in the morning and leave me with—" Her sentence was cut short when Draco closed the door in front of her; he probably apparated a thousand miles away the moment the door was closed.

Hermione was left staring dumbfounded at the door, until she realized she had a little boy in her living room. She turned around slowly, still clearly with confusion in her face, and decided to talk to the child, whom had not moved from the spot where Draco had left him.

"We haven't been introduced… I am Hermione, What's your name, sweetheart?" She used quite a maternal voice, soft and delicate to treat him, because, no matter what had happened, it wasn't the kid's fault.

"Sebastian…"—it appeared the boy had a hard time speaking, and, when he finally decided to do it, he didn't mean to add anything else.

"All right, Sebastian. Why don't you make yourself comfortable and explain me how you got here? Where are your parents?"

The boy, Hermione noticed, had the very same eyes Draco Malfoy had, his hair was pretty similar, just a little darker than the platinum blond the Malfoys had, and curly instead of straight. His features, so similar to those of the men she was reminded of, made a huge contrast with the expression of shyness and disconcert the young child had; seeing that kid was like going back in time to Hogwarts and see young Draco Malfoy, but with a naïve and innocent expression instead of the hateful face the eldest always wore.

"Father woke me up, but he didn't recognize me. I was scared because I thought he had to have drunk a lot, so I run to my grandparents' room, away from him, but when I got there, they didn't recognize me either…"—the child made a pause, he seemed very uncomfortable telling that, but he never wanted to take off his eyes from Hermione.—"… my grandparents were very upset too; when they asked me where my parents were, I pointed my finger at father and they stood there, staring at him, and he swore over and over again that he didn't have any children."

"Wait a moment…" Hermione interrupted him. "What you are telling me happened in the Malfoy Manor?" The child nodded his head, shyly. "You are telling me you are Draco Malfoy's son?" Hermione stared at him and just couldn't believe it, but the boy nodded his head again. How could it be?

"How old are you, sweetie?" She asked.

"Seven." He replied.

Hermione couldn't help but wonder if the child's words were true, Could it be possible that Draco Malfoy had a child at fifteen years of age, and seven years later, when they met again, he denied him in front of his parents? Actually, thought Hermione—the oddest would be to have a child at fifteen, but it wasn't impossible.

"And why did he bring you here?" She wondered out loud, hoping for any response that would make sense.

"Because you are my mother," said the child.

The oddest thing was the child really seemed sincere, and if he wasn't, he was too good of a liar. His eyes were expectant, and even hopeful; his voice was delicate and timid, and his hands were intertwined behind his back, his chin slightly up so he could see her better from down there.

"Who told you that?" After the shock of hearing something like that, the only thing left to think was that the little boy in his living room probably was an abandoned child and left to the Malfoy's care—probably Malfoy's because they were almost identical—who had been deceived into believing she was his mother, so Malfoy wouldn't have to take responsibility for him.

"My grandmother Narcissa; she gave me a picture of you, I always have it with me."—Then he took a photograph from this pocket and showed it to her. Hermione, skeptical, took it and stared at it for a while.

There was she, in a magical picture, smiling and waving. Her locks were very well combed, she wore a summer dress she didn't recognize, and, behind her, there was a beach with trees she didn't recognize either. She didn't remember ever having that picture taken.

"Narcissa Malfoy told you I was your mother?"

Sebastian nodded his head again and asked to have the picture back by lifting his hand to reach it.

Why would Narcissa Malfoy do such a thing? Hermione gave the picture back to him and sat on her living room's sofa, she stared at her watch: it was 6:14 am; right now, she thought, she should be sleeping on her bed, calmly and not taking care of the Malfoy's family problems. She moved her head to look again at the boy, who was still standing there, staring at her expectantly, and blushing slightly.

"And why would she say such a thing?" Asked Hermione.

"I asked her." Replied the child with a shrug; Hermione sighed deeply, closed her eyes and took a hand to her forehead.

"Let's see…" still in the same position, Hermione decided it would be best to have all the facts. "According to you, today you woke up and for some reason neither your father nor your grandparents recognized you, your grandmother told you I was your mother and then your father brought you here with me."

"No." he was very succinct, so Hermione opened her eyes and stared at him, wondering if it all wasn't actually a joke.

"Then how did it happen?"

"Grandmother told me who you were a long time ago; but just today father brought me to you. I had your picture in my hand and he took it from me…" when he said that, the child put on a spiteful face just like his father's "….he asked me why I had your picture and I told him because you were my mother; then he brought me here."

She sighed again and made herself more comfortable to be face to face with the child. "Sebastian, you seem all too convinced about all this, but tell me the truth, are they forcing you to play me a bad joke?"

Hermione's heart broke when she saw how the tears started to fall down the child's cheeks, who immediately turned around to hide his face and scrub his face in an attempt to hide them. She got up from the sofa and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's all right, sweetheart, you don't have to cry."

Violently, the child shook his head and a moment later he turned around to face her, no more tears in his reddish eyes. "I am sorry, grandfather Lucius says only the weakling cries, I don't want to be weak."

That sure sounded like something a Malfoy would say, thought Hermione with disgust. Then she reached for the child's face with one hand and gently caressed him. "Pay no attention to what he says, crying is not for the weak, you can cry all you want with me."

Despite her words, Sebastian completely refused to allow himself to cry, explaining her that Lucius knew better. And that he had to behave like one, otherwise he didn't deserve to be considered a Malfoy.

"Malfoys don't cry." He said.

"All right." Hermione gave up, changing the child's mind appeared to be impossible, his stubbornness was also very characteristic of Draco Malfoy. "Do you know where you grandmother got that picture you showed me?"

Calmer, little Sebastian nodded his head, and with no stuttering, he responded: "Father made it when you two were on vacation, it was taken before I was born."

"I've never been on vacation with him, Sebastian."

The child stared at her, not knowing what to say or do.

"And I am also sure I've never had any children, you know?"

Sebastian looked down to the floor, he appeared to be trying not to cry again. Hermione put a hand on his shoulder and asked him to look at her face. "I understand it must be very difficult living with the Malfoys, and sometimes when we are young we like to make up stories in order not to deal with reality…" the child started shaking out of angst, but she went on, "…your father has left you here and I'll make sure you don't have to return with him, but we must focus on what is real, all right?"

When he heard her last words, the child's face seemed to shine with joy, he lifted his head and showed her a lovely smile. "Can I stay with you?"

Uncomfortable, Hermione didn't know what to say for the third time that day. How could she say no to such an adorable and harmless little boy? She didn't want to encourage his illusions, but she couldn't leave him alone either, or worse, return him to the Malfoy Manor.

"Sure, you'll stay with me for now." Sebastian jumped for joy and surrounded her neck with his arms to hug her strongly; he thanked her over and over again, and only after a long moment, he left her.

"I am afraid I don't have much space for you, I hope you don't mind."

Hermione's apartment consisted of a kitchen-dining room, a living room, a bathroom and a bedroom. It was small, but enough for one person.

Sebastian looked around for the first time, probably calculating the space and comparing it with the luxury he was used to. "I can sleep on the floor, I don't mind as long as I am with you."

It was very curious, the child had all the physical appearance and education of a Malfoy, and yet, he had no problem to leave all that luxury behind to be with her. It had to be horrible living with the Malfoys, Hermione supposed. What she couldn't understand was how they could abandon him just like that, and aside from that, want her to take care of him.

"With whom did you use to live with before you stayed with the Malfoys, Sebastian?" asked Hermione while she served him breakfast in the kitchen; she needed the information, she needed to know who the child's real mother was.

"I've always lived with them, they are my family." He showed her a look of confusion, as if he didn't understand the reason for such obvious questions.

"Always? Since you were born?" Asked Hermione.

"I was born there, at the Malfoy Manor." When he said that, the child didn't want to look at her in the eyes, and, instead, he stared at his plate sadly.

It appeared young Sebastian had trouble talking about his infancy, and about anything associated with his mother. What had they done to that poor child? Hermione got upset just thinking about it. But what made no sense was that she had never received any information about that child; the Malfoy Manor had been raided dozens of times, and that child had never been discovered. The existence of a new Malfoy would be public, wouldn't it? And, what about the mother? What had happened to her? Had she abandoned him? Even if they were his family, that woman couldn't be a good mother, leaving the child with the Malfoys.

Hermione looked up at the kitchen's clock, it was barely 7 am. It was Thursday, and she had to leave for work in an hour. She had a job in the Ministry as a lawyer in the defense of magical creatures department; she had to take the child with her. How would her superiors take that? Just thinking about it made her nervous. Maybe he could go unnoticed… It was great that she had the justice department only a few minutes away, there she'd present little Sebastian's case, probably by lunch time.

"Are you sure you don't want to return home, Sebastian?"

The child didn't hesitate at all and quickly shook his head. "No, I want to stay with you." The problem was Hermione couldn't have a child that didn't belong to her, if she challenged Malfoy's paternity and asked for the custody to be removed, the child would go to some foster family that would take care of him, that if his real mother wasn't found and for some reason she was allowed to keep him, only if she hadn't really abandoned him, of course.

A/N: Here's the translation for my second story, A Gift from the Future (Un regalo del futuro). It's already finished, so all I have left to do is continue translating it to English. I hope you all like it, people! The Spanish version was a success, so I hope my translation can keep up with the original version. Thanks so much to my beta, Katherine, and to Elena as well, who has been so good helping me with BCM mostly. By the way, the final chapter of BCM is written! I'll be posting it in the following days :) Thank you all for reading and reviewing!


	2. A Child's Innocence

It was hard at first, but she finally could get the child ready so he could go with her to work. She had to transfigure his clothes, since he was wearing pajamas, and wet his hair so she could comb his curls. The combing didn't work, so she had to use the very same magical lotion she used on her own hair in order to work on the kid's head.

"You look handsome, Sebastian." Said Hermione, proud of her own work. "Promise me you'll behave well at my workplace, all right?"

The boy effusively nodded his head, anxious to go with her. Hermione had no idea why he was so excited to spend a day with her at her office. When they arrived by floo powder to the Ministry of Magic, she held the child's hand to take him through the corridors, greeting her colleagues and coworkers, whom looked at her oddly, as if nothing weird was going on. She hoped that if she didn't give away many explanations the child wouldn't be noticed and thus, there wouldn't be any problems.

Luckily, Sebastian turned out to be a very well behaved child, as if he was much older. He remained silent during the first hour he was at her office, while she checked different papers. Every now and then Hermione glanced at him to see what he was doing, and each time she did so, the child was staring at her with a little and shy smile. It was a pretty odd situation.

"You must be bored. There isn't much to do around here. Would you like to read something?"

Sebastian nodded his head, and Hermione offered him some Vogue magazines, it was either that or the law magazines and the law books which adorned the shelves of her office. The child went through the pages of the magazines without any interest whatsoever, he didn't get to read half the magazine when he decided that he preferred to observe Hermione quietly rather than continue looking at that Vogue catalogue.

"Would you prefer to see a bestiary index?" She asked.

"In my home there are lots of bestiaries and I've already read them all; but I've never seen a law book." He said.

Hermione smiled ironically for herself, of course a family like the Malfoys wouldn't have law books, if not books to go against the law. "What would you like better? A treaty about magical creatures or a compendium of laws about the centaurs?" She supposed those two books were the easiest a child could read, out of all she had in her office at least, and the most interesting he could find, but Sebastian pointed with his little finger to a very high shelf, where there were books that Hermione rarely used for her work.

"Family Law." He read from his position.

"That's… interesting." It was a pretty tough book to read for a child that young, but Hermione understood why he was interested in the subject, and was surprised to find out the kid actually tried to read it. The four hours remaining before lunch, Sebastian went through the pages trying to read the massive book, stopping now and then to check if she was still sitting there.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Hermione asked while she took him by the hand on their way out. It was time for lunch and she couldn't take him to the cafeteria where she would be showered with questions. She decided to buy him a sandwich at a local eatery outside the Ministry, so he could eat while they strode to the justice court.

"Yes, I wanted to make sure that I can stay with you. Your book says that if we demonstrate that living conditions with my father aren't good, then you can claim custody and I won't have to see him again."

May be it would be better not to reply to that, she thought because the only thing she could tell him was that first, they would have to have shared custody, which wasn't the case and, besides, she had to be his mother, which wasn't the case either. So she decided to inquire more on the family subject, since he had spoken first about it.

"What do you mean? Why are you claiming living conditions are not good?" Wondered Hermione.

"Because he is really mean to me, he hates me." He replied sure of his assertion.

"Why would you say that? I don't think anybody can hate you Sebastian, less your own father."

The child shook his head and preferred to look down to the floor instead of replying. It appeared to be a tough subject to come across. It would be better to ask about something else.

"What about your grandparents? Are they good to you?"

"Yes." Replied Sebastian. "They are good to me, they have always taken care of me, but that was before. They are only my grandparents you are my mother."

Sebastian was pretty much convinced that Hermione would keep him; it broke her heart to listen to him being so hopeful, but at the same time she knew nothing good could come out of encouraging his ideas, she couldn't give him hopes, she wasn't even sure of being able to prevent him from going back to the Malfoys, who were clearly not good for the child if he was so desperate to leave them.

"Well, only a judge has a say on that." Explained Hermione.

Hermione was 24 years old, she had graduated law school a few months ago, she worked at the Ministry of Magic, she had a boyfriend and a whole life ahead of her. She definitely couldn't take care of a boy whom she had no relation to. It would be better to let the law take care of him.

At the department of reports, Hermione asked young Sebastian to stay in the waiting room while she spoke to someone in charge; it was surprising just how obedient he was y how good he behaved_. 'That's surely thanks to his mother'_ assumed Hermione, because no good behavior could come from Draco Malfoy.

"Let's see, Miss Granger. You are telling me this morning Draco Malfoy left his son at your front door, claiming he had nothing to do with him." A man went over Hermione's report.

"That's right, Mr. Whitlock." She replied.

"And you are sure the boy is his son?" He inquired.

"That's what the child says." She answered.

"You've told me the child also believes to be your son." Mr. Whitlock commented, his big brown eyes expectant, his glasses falling slightly down his nose.

"But he isn't." Said Hermione, in a calm voice; whilst she tapped one of her feet.

The man in charge stared at Hermione pensively; Hermione realized her tale made as much sense as the young boy's. In truth, it was possible that he wasn't Draco Malfoy's son, but he described so well the Malfoy Manor and each member of his family… besides, there was the fact that he was identical to Draco.

"Just look at him!" She exclaimed after a short pause. "He is a carbon copy of Draco Malfoy when he was little! And he looks nothing like me."

"Even if I had met Mr. Malfoy at that age, Miss, I'm afraid images aren't enough proof." He explained carefully.

"What now then?" She asked worried.

"If you claim you are not the child's mother, and Draco Malfoy does the same, we'll have to start an investigation to find his real parents. I'll inform you when we find them so you can report them if you wish, Miss Granger."

"And what if he doesn't have parents?" The possibility made her feel uncomfortable.

"He'll go to a foster home. Don't you worry; he will not bother you again." Explained the man.

Hermione got a lump in her throat when she heard that, for some reason she didn't like the idea of never seeing him again, the child had so many expectations about her… but it would be better for both, she couldn't become attached to any kid she came across with; it wasn't right, it wasn't healthy for anybody, specially for him.

"Can I stay with him while you search for his parents? He has no one… and I don't think he'll be pleased to see Draco Malfoy." Asked a hopeful Hermione.

"You can stay here with him until we finish the proceedings to find his parents."

After talking to the man in charge, Hermione went to the waiting room where little Sebastian was sitting still, waiting for her impatiently.

"It took you too long. What were you doing?" asked Sebastian, a bit annoyed, very much like his supposed father, and curious at the same time.

"I was talking to a person who wants to meet you. He needs you to tell him your story, and he will help you find your family, Sebastian." She replied.

"You are my family." Was his only answer, there was confusion in his eyes.

"Your real family, sweetie." All Hermione got was a shook of his head; he was completely convinced of what he said.

"Well, if I am your real family, as you say, this is the best place to find out, you know? They'll test you to prove who your parents are." Explained her.

"All right, let's go." As calm and determined as a child could be, Sebastian got up from his seat and took Hermione by the hand to guide her to the office where the man was waiting for them.

After a 20 minute interrogation, in which the man in charge asked him all the possible questions to the boy, Hermione took even more pity on him. He refused to answer questions about his mother, just allowing himself to say it was Hermione, his excuse to remain silent was saying he knew nothing else. He apparently didn't know when he had been born, nor did he know why he grew up without his mother, he didn't know what had happened between his father and her, neither did he know how nor why he had been placed under the care of his father's family. Both the man and Hermione realized Sebastian was leaving out at least half of the truth. When the time to speak of his father came, however, the child made sure to tell every bad aspect he knew of.

"Every day he drinks a lot, my grandparents have made him go to a rehab center, but those never work." Explained Sebastian.

"Has he always been like that?" Asked the man.

"Ever since I can tell." Replied Sebastian.

"Has he ever hurt you?" Asked Mr. Whitlock, Hermione looked at the child with worry in her eyes; she didn't like what she was hearing.

"No, because my grandparents don't allow him to get near me when he appears to have been drinking."

"And how does he treat you when he isn't drunk?" The questions continued.

Faced with that question, Sebastian remained still, doubting. He appeared to amuse himself watching the ceiling before replying. "He usually ignores me, but if I speak to him he answers me badly and yells at me so I get out of his sight." He made a short pause to take a look at Hermione, and spoke to her, "He's always in a bad mood, whether he is drunk or not."

While the child recounted his life, which he did only if he was asked about something in particular, Hermione took more pity on him to the point where she even considered take him with her, but she had to come to a halt whenever that thought came across her mind, she couldn't take care of a child, no matter how unhappy he was. There were thousands of better families that could take care of him. Even if she could be a good adoptive mother, she had a job to take care of, and a boyfriend to consider as well, and she wasn't sure her paycheck was big enough to support another member of the family. She'd had to rent a bigger apartment, pay for an education, get him a sitter… and she'd had to get another job for the same obvious reasons.

A knock on the door stopped her financial rambling.

"Mr. Whitlock?" The man's secretary half opened the door to announce somebody. "Draco Malfoy is here, and he insists he won't waist another minute in here."

Sebastian appeared to freeze on his spot for a moment, the man in charge stared at the secretary with skepticism, and Hermione sighed. As expected, Draco Malfoy was the kind of man who would barge in as if in charge or one could better describe it, as a man willing to trample on any one or anything standing on his way.

"Fine, send him in." Said Mr. Whitlock, clearly expecting an argument.

The moment he said that, Sebastian got up from his seat and hid by Hermione's side and out of sight, so Malfoy wouldn't see him when he came in. In truth, had Hermione not been a grown up woman used to Draco Malfoy's despicable and haughty attitude, she would also have been scared to see him come in such a tempestuous manner. As if he owned the place; he sat on the chair Sebastian had been using a moment ago with a sign of distaste on his face, as if everything he saw were beneath him and as if the place stunk. He didn't even say hello.

"Mr. Malfoy…" Mr. Whitlock started, but was soon interrupted.

"I don't have any children. Do you need a statement? I have a public notary in the waiting room." Said Malfoy with an impatient tone, interrupting him without thinking it twice, with the same arrogant tone he always used. Hermione turned her head to glare at him while one of her hands caressed Sebastian's back, the poor child was trembling with fear.

"I can't believe you have the nerve to come here and go on with this sham, Malfoy." Hermione only kept herself together because Sebastian was in the same room, she didn't want to scare him by yelling at Draco the way she would have liked to.

"How dare you? You abandoned your child in my house and you summon me to declare I have left him to you!" He said in a not so controlled angry tone.

"My son? But he looks just like you!" Exclaimed Hermione.

"Excuse me…" The older man tried to calm them down, but was not successful.

"Please, Granger, quit the joking. What is it that you want? Money? I bet you need it, but I won't support another's man child. If you don't know who the father is, it's not my problem."

"But I've never been pregnant in my entire life!" Exclaimed Hermione, clearly desperate.

"Can you prove it?" Asked Draco, defying her.

"Excuse me!" Mr. Whitlock, tired of listening to their argument, decided to finish it. Both grownups shut up when they heard the man's authoritative tone of voice; but they never stopped glaring at each other, both blushing out of anger.

"We don't have any registries of the birth of Sebastian Malfoy…" Started the man, but was soon interrupted by Draco.

"Because there isn't any." Said Draco; the older man ignored him and went on.

"Neither a Sebastian Granger. Nor do we have any claim for a lost child who looks anything like him."

"He basically doesn't exist on your data base." Commented Hermione.

"Good thinking, Granger." Said Draco with sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, why don't you shut up and grow up a little, Malfoy?"

The man spoke before the two young adults started an argument once again. "So, all I can do now is a test to find out who his real parents are." Mr. Whitlock made a short pause to look for the child, who was still hiding by Hermione's side. "Sebastian?"

Sebastian barely raised his head to stare at him. "We'll have to perform a blood test. Do you mind?" Asked the man.

"Come, sit on my lap." Hermione told him while she helped him up and sat him on her lap with some difficulty. The child stared at Draco out of the corner of his eye, scared still.

Mr. Whitlock took a pretty long sheet of paper and a tiny dagger out of one of his drawers, he showed it carefully. "I need to perform a little cut on one of your hands, and shed just a few drops of your blood on this paper. Will you be able to stand it?"

"Must I stay to see this?" Asked a worked up Draco, whilst Sebastian shook his head in response, and hid his face between Hermione's locks.

"It would be better if you stayed, Mr. Malfoy, so we can sort out everything at once." Said Mr. Whitlock

"But I have nothing to do with this!" Draco almost yelled.

Hermione ignored the argument that started between both males, and tried to speak to the little guy attached to her body. "Do you know in which house you want to be at in Hogwarts, Sebastian?" Her sweet and kind tone of voice encouraged the child to speak again, even though he only spoke whispering, that way only she could hear him.

"Grandfather says that if I wish for it very hard, and if my Malfoy blood is strong in me, I can be in Slytherin; but if I don't make it there, at least I'll have to be accepted in Ravenclaw. So he makes me study very hard to compensate for my blood's impurity."

Hermione bit her tongue in anger before continuing speaking. "Well, I was on Gryffindor. Did you know it is the house of the bravest?"

Sebastian shook his head, and quickly added: "If you were there, I want to go there too."

"You know, I am sure you'll end up in Gryffindor if you pass this test. It will show how brave you are." She commented.

The child appeared to consider it for a moment, and then he unstuck himself from her body to look at her in the eyes. His tiny grey eyes were incredibly intense when looked at such a short distance; he looked so sweet and innocent, Hermione was touched again.

"If I think about this test when they give me the hat, you say it will place me in Gryffindor like it did to you?" He wondered out loud.

"Probably, yes." She replied.

"Then I'll do it." He finished.

Sebastian interrupted the men's argument by placing his right hand on the desk; out of the corner of his eyes, he made sure Draco didn't do anything to him. Draco, on the other hand, stared at the opposite side of the room in disgust; he remained staring at the wall.

The man in charge took the child's hand and asked him to look to the other side, which he did closing his eyes while the man moved the dagger to the kid's hand and performed a tiny cut, which shed a few drops of blood that went down to the paper. Hermione quickly placed a handkerchief over the wound to hide it.

"See, I bet it didn't hurt." Said Hermione; but Sebastian didn't say anything, he just shook his head with his eyes closed still and went back to attach himself to Hermione's chest. In the meantime, Mr. Whitlock pointed his wand to the bloody sheet of paper and murmured a spell. Then, the few drops of blood started moving around the paper transforming into letters that soon turned into words and lines that formed a pretty big genealogical tree.

"It can't be…" was the first thing Hermione said when she saw the recently formed words; making Draco turn his head to the front to see the result; which left him speechless.

"Sebastian Malfoy…"—Read Mr. Whitlock.—"…son of Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, grandson of Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black; grandson also of…"

"See? I told you, you are my mother." Whispered Sebastian, happy with the result despite the shock on his parent's faces."

"This must be a very fancy magic trick" Said Draco anxiously.

"Use your logic Malfoy, we both witnessed the spell." Replied Hermione; she couldn't believe her eyes, but she had to.

This time, Draco Malfoy stared at Hermione Granger, but without disgust on his face, just plain skepticism and shock. Hermione could only shrug and shyly hug the young child she had on her lap.

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A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing. Remember, reviews are good, they make my day, and they keep me updating. I hope you all like this chapter. And please, tell me all you think! I accept critics. :)


	3. Theories and Explanations

Outside the civil court room number 5º, in the magic world, one could easily hear the yelling of two newly parents, each accusing the other with different theories in front of a judge who watched them with as much interest as skepticism.

"You say I drugged you? Are you out of your mind?" Exclaimed Hermione.

"What other explanation have you got? Never would I have consciously touched-" Said Draco, but was quickly interrupted.

"Neither would I!"—yelled Hermione—"You've always repulsed me!"

"Obviously at some point in your life—about seven years ago—I attracted you enough so you'd want a child of mine." Explained Draco with as much anger as Hermione.

"Of course, so you say I drugged you so you'd get me pregnant, that's so reasonable, Malfoy. How many witnesses are there that can confirm I was expecting a child when we were in sixth year at Hogwarts?" Asked Hermione with sarcasm.

"Obviously none because you used an illusion spell to pretend."

"Only you can come up with these kind of things!"—Hermione had already reached a boiling point, and clearly couldn't stand Draco and his nonsense anymore.—"That kind of spell can hardly hide an advanced pregnancy."

"You're a know it all, nothing's impossible for you!" That phrase, that in any other circumstance could have come up as a compliment, came out as an insult.

"No! I've already drunk verisaterum in front of you; why can't you believe me?"

"Bah, you can lie under the effects of that potion anyway," commented Draco, cockily.

"What makes you think that? Not everyone has as much experience lying as you do!"

Reaching a point in which the yelling even stunned the judge, the madam decided to use her authority to silence them—something that took longer than expected—but turned out well at the end. Both Draco and Hermione took a moment to slow down their hearts rate and breathe normally.

"Do you know when the child was born?" asked the judge.

"No, he didn't want to tell," replied Hermione, still glaring at Draco.

"August 28, 2005 according to the psychologist's report; she is evaluating him right now." Said the judge, as if that explained everything.

"But that's a year from now!" exclaimed Draco with mixed feelings. On one hand, the classic confusion: "How is it possible?" on the other hand, relief: "I never touched Granger.", and on the other other hand, repugnance: "Does this mean I will have a child with Granger?" Hermione, on her side, thought the same, although she had come to know Sebastian pretty well, and she didn't hate the idea of having him as her child. She even liked the idea. That young boy had earned a place in her heart pretty fast.

"It's… it's exactly a year from now, today is his birthday," said Hermione in a barely hearable whisper. At the same time she wondered, like Draco, if it was possible that the child came from a different parallel world in which both loved each other, because they didn't think it would be possible for them to conceive a child within the following months.

Could they love each other in a parallel universe? It was more possible for them to get drunk and conceive Sebastian by mistake than that.

"It's not the first time someone has come from the past. Although in our time the usage of that kind of magic is forbidden and it's almost impossible to use," explained the judge, a very experienced elder woman, "The odd thing is that he's such a young boy. Anyway, he has no consciousness about any of these facts, to him, all that has changed from yesterday to today is that he met his mother, of whom he won't tell much about according to this report."

"Wow…" Hermione let herself fall to sit on the chair—she had been standing all the time she had been arguing with Draco, which was a long time—and she sighed. "…a son."

"Not in this world, Granger. Even if I weren't engaged, I wouldn't dream of touching you," Draco was fast to say.

Hermione was about to reply something just as aggressive, but the judge cleared her throat and glared at Draco menacingly. "In this situation, Miss Granger, Mr. Malfoy, I take it neither of you want the custody of the child?""

"Of course not." Draco was the first one to reply, completely upset by the question; Hermione, on the other hand, got up immediately, placed her hands on the judge's desk and, unlike Draco, pled for complete custody.

"I want it; you've read the child's statement, your honor. Draco Malfoy does not represent a benefit for him."

Draco only put on his typical face of disgust and didn't complain—the less responsibility he had, the better. "If I have any say in the matter, she may keep him; I have no interest whatsoever."

"Good." The judge nodded her head while she wrote something on a sheet of paper. On another side of the room, a magical pen could be seen writing down each word that was being said in there.

"All we'll need from him is financial support, your honor," interjected Hermione.

Draco was obviously upset. "In your dreams, Granger! I won't pay a dime for a child I have nothing to do with!"

"He is your son!" Hermione exclaimed, all worked up again.

"Not in this world!" he replied.

"Whether he is from this world—or this time—or not, does not change the fact that he has to eat like any other human being!"

"It's not my problem, Granger, if you want to take care of him, take money from your own pocket."

The judge cleared her throat again—shutting them both up—she sorted the papers she had been writing on, took a deep breath and started speaking: "Very well, Mr. Malfoy, you'll have to sign a statement to assign all your parental rights to Miss Granger." She gave him the papers and a pen, which Draco hurried to take in order to sign. "and you, Miss, you'll only have to sign the identity registries we have prepared for the child; you already have full custody."

"Thank you so much, your honor," Hermione's face brightened up when she heard that, she had been afraid that may be the judge would have thought of giving Malfoy visitation days, but having full custody meant Malfoy wouldn't have anything to do with their lives, "And what about his duties?"

"Of course, transferring custody does not imply transferring the family support duties," the judge explained wisely.

Malfoy suddenly lifted his eyes from the papers he was checking when he heard that; but before he could say something, the judge continued: "Seeing the financial facilities of the father, I stipulate he is to pay a monthly installment of 600 galleons for child support."

"600 galleons?" Malfoy yelled, completely outraged. It wasn't a significant amount of money for him, but considering he wasn't planning on giving away a knut, 600 galleons was a lot of money.

"600 galleons will be enough to support him; thank you so much, your honor," unlike Draco, Hermione was now completely calm and showed a bright smile that only managed to irritate more the man beside her.

"I object!" Draco exclaimed soon after Hermione finished speaking.

"We are not in a trial, Mr. Malfoy," the judge reminded him.

"Then I'll start one!" he interjected.

"Please, Malfoy, what is it that you think you are going to do? Complain about the public administration? Even if they admitted it—which is highly unlikely—you'd never win," said Hermione between her chuckles.

Malfoy, outraged, started arguing with the judge, whom had already told Hermione she could go pick up her son while she dealt with Draco. Whilst she strode around the corridors of the court, the same questions started popping in her mind. How could that child come to this time? And, may be even more important, how would it be possible for him to ever exist? Hermione would have never imagined she'd ever have a child with Malfoy; with Ron indeed, thousands of times, he was her boyfriend after all, and she hadn't thought of ending the relationship.

But here were the facts: She had a child, and no matter who his father was, he was hers, and she had accepted all responsibility for him. When she stared at him, even though he looked just like Draco Malfoy, her heart filled with joy and love; she had always liked little children, especially boys, so cute and attached to their mothers. In truth, if she ever had a son, she hoped he was just like that young child that hugged her as if his life depended of it and smiled at her as if she brightened his day, even though they had only known each other for a few hours.

"Did you make it? Can I stay with you?" was the first thing Sebastian asked when he saw her, getting ahead of the answer with a hopeful smile.

"Yes, you are legally mine." Hermione confirmed while the child hugged her by the waist—since that was as high as he could reach—and she caressed his head kindly. She had no choice but to accept him—of which she didn't complain—she'd just have to care for him until they found a way to send him back to his time, because, in truth, that was what had to really worry her.

The psychologist who had been working with him came out from behind them to greet Hermione and give her a book: "A travel through time. The official guide to deal with time travelers and help them in their journey", it was a publication from the Ministry of Magic with a lot of information about cases of that kind. The woman, making sure the child didn't realize what they were talking about, explained Hermione she could ask for help in the mystery department if she didn't manage to solve the problem; but while she was at it, it would help Sebastian to have a normal life rhythm.

When they got out of the court, Hermione was holding Sebastian's hand, who was smiling as he had very few times in his life; he appeared to be extremely happy, joyful to live. Whilst his mother went through her mental finances and planned buying him clothes after work. Which reminded her…

"Oh, Merlin, I am two hours late!" She started running, taking along the child with her, who could barely keep up, and internally cursing Malfoy for delaying her with his arguments and stupid theories. "Come on, quickly!"

But the child never complained, when they both arrived to the Ministry, they were panting, and he didn't even ask for water, although it was obvious he needed it. Surely the Malfoys had made him live through quite tough conditions in order to make him be so uncomplaing. Only the image of the child being mistreated by his father's family made Hermione's blood boil. What could have happened in the future in order for her not to be there to protect him? Even if the little one was the product of a rape—which was the worst case scenario she could think of, although she didn't think Malfoy was capable of doing that sort of thing—she would have never wanted to leave him, it just was not like her to do such a thing, and less leave him to the Malfoys' mercy.

Short after pouring a glass of water for Sebastian—and another one for herself—she realized she had a letter on her desk, which asked for an explanation of her 2 hours, 07 minutes and 38 seconds delay. What should she say? She wondered… 'I was quarreling at court over the custody of my son with Draco Malfoy…' instead of worrying over her excuse, she preferred to smile at the thought of her boss' face after reading something like that.

"Well, sweetie, we have two working hours left. Would you like to read something?" In truth, Hermione would have rather spend those two hours talking to her son, finding out anything she could about the future, but two big reasons prevented her so; on one hand, Sebastian had to be exhausted, he had been 5 hours locked up in an office with her, and then 3 hours answering questions; and, besides, she had to recover all the time she had lost when at court. "Or maybe you'd rather sleep?"

Sebastian thought about it for a moment while watching her, wondering what would happen if he spoke his mind. "So?" She insisted.

"Can I help you?" He asked shyly.

"You want to help me work? I only have to go through dozens of papers; I don't think it will be any fun for you."

"I want to see what you do; someday I want to be a lawyer like you." He explained eagerly.

Hermione smiled with pride; the boy looked exactly like Malfoy, but that didn't matter, because on the inside, he was just as enterprising and good-hearted as she was. Just seeing his little angel face and listening to that voice filled with hope and determination, she couldn't say no, even though he would probably delay her already delayed work even more.

"All right, come here." She commanded him.

The child hurried to get out of his chair and went straight to Hermione's lap, where he sat comfortably, resting his back against her body, as if he already belonged there.

After just half an hour of reading only one document—since she had to explain him almost every word they read—the child fell asleep against her, luckily, because then she could do her job more easily. She couldn't take him to work every day, she'd have to leave him with somebody tomorrow and the rest of the days while he stayed in this world… How did single parents manage to raise their children? It had to be rough for a couple if both had to work to support their family, she didn't imagine how her own case would work out, because wizards and witches educated their children at home until they were old enough to go to a magic school.

Possibly the best choice would be to get him to attend a muggle school. What else could she do? Even though she would love to, she couldn't possibly see to his education working 8 hours a day. And under no circumstances could she deny him that, even if she didn't know how long he would stay. Besides, the child wasn't even aware of his dimension or time traveling. The best thing to do would be keep a normal life rhythm for him, which would include an education, the only difference would be that now, neither Lucius nor Narcissa Malfoy would be part of it, thankfully.

Neither could she tell him he had traveled in time. She'd just scare him and worry him unnecessarily thinking how to go back home, or how to hinder his way home… yes, he'd probably not want to return to his time, he was too happy to have her… which made her wonder again, what had happened to her in the future? Would it be possible for her to die in about a year? May be she was captured? Murdered? Abandoned in an uncertain place with no means, leaving her child to the Malfoys? And if something of the sort happened, would she be able to prevent it? May be… May be this child was giving her chance to change things and live longer, but what if that meant not having him in the future?

Seeing how things were right now, she found impossible to get pregnant by Malfoy in the next three months. It was more possible that the child were from a different universe, if such thing could exist. Unfortunately, the future theory was more feasible. How hard did she see things, if that boy was really from the future, that meant she had to leave Ron at some point, or at least cheat on him… but no, she couldn't picture herself cheating on Ron, and even less so with Malfoy. On the other hand, neither could she picture herself leaving him.

'_So many questions and so little time…'_ She thought.

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N/A: Here it is. I hope you like mystery! Thank you so much for your reviews! Keep them coming. :)


	4. Getting to Know Each Other Better

By six in the afternoon, Hermione was almost finished with the workload of the day, she was never late handing in work—she usually was far ahead of her co-workers. In the three hours it took her to be done with it, Sebastian slept peacefully on her lap, preventing her from getting up—she had to levitate all she needed. It was rather odd how they both seemed to have forged a bond so fast, specially for her, since the child had arrived completely determined to stay for good with her, whilst Hermione had not thought of having children at least until she was 28 years old and married… to Ron. With whom, by the way, she was supposed to meet at home after work. Of course, she had stayed an extra hour at work—which wasn't unusual, so Ron wouldn't be surprised.

What would she tell Ron? She couldn't tell him she'd have a child with Draco Malfoy, or that she had him in another dimension, or whatever might have happened. He would prefer Malfoy's story, that she got pregnant at 16 and hid her son's existence until now. She had no idea what to do. There was no way Ron would accept neither the truth nor the lie, and she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she lied. She'd have to postpone it as much as she could. But how long could she stay away from her boyfriend? They usually spent every day together; they were even considering renting an apartment together. They didn't live together because Hermione's place was far too small, and she wasn't willing to live with his parents.

"_Ron…_

_I have a lot of work today. I am afraid I won't be done until much later, and tomorrow will be the same. Would you mind meeting this weekend? _

…_Hermione."_

The best thing she could do was write him a letter with a simple excuse, just this time the truth was kind of distorted. It was true she had a lot of work to do, but it wasn't from her job, but from her son. Assuming he'd stay at least a couple of days with her, Hermione would have to buy him some clothes, food he could eat (half the food in her refrigerator wasn't healthy for a child), she had to re-arrange her apartment so he could have a place to sleep and besides, she'd have to choose a muggle school for him. Sebastian had arrived just in time, since the school year would start next Monday; so she had all Friday to try and convince the directors of some school to take him in. In order to accomplish this, she'd have to ask to have the day off.

'_I hope he had a good education…'_ In truth, Hermione didn't know what to expect. Obviously the child knew how to read and write, but would he have the required knowledge of math, history and science needed at a third grade of a muggle school? Since she had not been educated by wizards until she turned 11 years old, she didn't have any idea of how education was like in the magic world before going to Hogwarts.

When she left the office, Hermione went to Gringott's to get galleons and exchange them for Muggle money, she had to make the most of the day to buy him clothes. Since Malfoy had to contribute as well, she'd use his money to buy Sebastian everything he needed, 600 galleons a month would be more than enough… and if the child disappeared tomorrow, she wouldn't have spent money of her own.

'_Will he stay more than a month?' _She wondered; it was hard not to think he could stay forever… but he could also leave the following day. Time traveling magic was unpredictable and complex, and since it had always been forbidden, it just was not possible to study it further. One of the most worrisome subjects was if, in case Sebastian couldn't return to his time, could he continue existing in the present time after the time of his conception, whether he was conceived or not.

¿And what if he was from another dimension instead of the future? In that case, his staying here was more possible—that is if another dimension actually existed—and therefore, it would be possible for him to exist if he wasn't conceived in three months time. ¿And could she allow his staying here if he could return to his place? It would be selfish to deny him that chance, even though if, knowing the conditions he lived in, it would probably be worse to make him go back.

"What do you think of going to a Muggle school, Sebastian?" She asked him while she chose a few magician clothes at a store. He'd need those as much as the Muggle ones if everything turned out all right.

"Why would I go to a muggle school? I am a wizard; I'll go to Hogwarts in 4 years."

"Of course you'll go, but I think it would be good for you to go to a Muggle school while we wait until you can go to Hogwarts."

"But that's for Muggles, we are sorcerers. Besides, my grandfather Lucius teaches me all I need to know." It was hard for Sebastian to understand why his mother was so interested in something so… illogical.

"But now you are with me your grandfather Lucius can't educate you any longer. ¿Or is it that you wish to return to live with him?"

"No, I want to live with you."—He was quick to say.—"Can't you teach me?"

"I'd love to; honey, but I haven't got the time. Your grandfather could teach you because he didn't have to work, but I do. And you can't come with me every single day to the office, it would be pretty boring, don't you think?"

"I like being with you all the time." He explained.

"You are adorable, you know. But even if you like being with me, it would be good for you to meet other kids your age; besides, don't forget it's essential for you to have an education, that comes first."

Sebastian seemed to think about it for a moment, absorbed in his own thoughts. "I've never met other kids my age." He finally said after a moment.

"Never? How is that possible? Have they always kept you locked at Malfoy Manor?" She asked surprised.

"No, grandmother usually takes me out to go shopping or for a stroll, and sometimes my grandfather takes me to one of his many offices, he says one day I'll have to take care of his business because there is no way my father will ever be able to handle them."

"But they haven't allowed you to be with no one else but them, have they?"

"No… I don't know, I think we just haven't had the time. There's always something to do." The child shrugged, he didn't seem to mind. He still appeared to be absorbed in his own thoughts, he had a funny stare.

Hermione had a lot on her mind as well, every bit of information she got from her son left her wondering new things. Her son never could relate to kids his age, how would he do in school? It would be risky, but he'd have to go anyway.

"So, what do you think about starting this Monday? You'll go during my work hours, so we won't miss out on time to be together."

"I will do it if it makes you happy." He said it staring at her face from down there, making sure his answer was satisfactory.

Sebastian was very sweet, and gave warmness to her heart rather easily; he was very pleasing, at least with her. It was obvious he was determined to be liked. Was that the reason for his excellent behavior? Or was it just his personality?

Hermione discovered another side to her son when they arrived to Muggle London. Before doing anything else, she had to transfigure the child's clothes again, in order not to call attention. The child, when he first saw her in jeans and a baggy white shirt, showed himself utterly confused, as if it were the first time he saw something of the sort; when he looked down to see his own recently transfigured clothes—trousers and a yellow t-shirt—his face was clearly upset.

"You don't like it?" She asked him.

"They're Muggle clothes." He expected his assertion to explain it all.

"What's wrong with them?"

"We aren't Muggles." He replied.

"No, but we most pretend to be Muggles to walk around their world. Besides, what did you expect to wear in a Muggle school?"

Sebastian, still with the same facial expression as before, nodded his head and decided not to say anything else. If his mother wanted him to wear those clothes—which, in his opinion, was kind of insulting—he'd do it without complaining. Hermione took his hand to continue walking through the alley that divided magical London from muggle London.

"What have they taught you about Muggles, Sebastian?" Hermione asked him.

"My grandparents have explained me Muggles are inferior to us because they lack magic. They live in poor conditions and ignore our world; if they find out about it, they'd want to take it from us." His answer was given without malice. Sebastian truly believed what his grandparents taught him.

It was upsetting, but, what else could she expect from the Malfoys? What would they tell a child? They were not going to educate him to approve of Muggles, on the contrary. Although, in truth, his words were quite softer than she would have thought. Young Draco Malfoy would have used harsher and derogatory words. Would the child know his mother was daughter of muggles? He had said something about the shortcomings of his ancestry a while ago, he probably was referring to that, but for what he told her, his grandparents didn't seem to dislike him for being half-blooded.

"And what about Muggle children that turn out to be wizards?" She wondered.

"They aren't as good as natural wizards, but they are useful." He replied.

The child sounded like a soldier, trained to answer, and he answered in rather peculiar terms. He was never perturbed, never bated an eyelash or turned a hair, he spoke confidently, and at the same time, he didn't seem to be affected at all.

"What are they useful for?"

"For our society." He explained her.

She didn't expect that answer, although the word "useful" sounded rather cold, the fact that he considered Muggles as part of society was pretty good.

"You know my parents are Muggles, don't you?" Hermione asked him curiously.

Sebastian didn't hesitate to reply: "Yes." That was all he said.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"No; I'd love you even if you were a Muggle. Besides, I think it's an advantage, since I have to study a lot more than regular wizards and I like doing it; the more I know, the more powerful I will be."

In all of her life, Hermione never thought she'd ever hear something like that. Her son's explanation was a perfect mix of the Malfoy's ambition for power and their cold, calculated look at reality, plus the pleasure studying and learning was for her. Sebastian had realized that by himself, the more he knew, the more advantage he'd have over the others—Malfoy reasoning—and considered himself fortunate since he would study more than a child his age should, which matched Hermione's ideology. Instead of feeling down for being a half-blood, he looked at the bright side.

It was most ironical, because now Hermione feared that showing the child that Muggles were as good as wizards, the boy would end up reasoning that studying wasn't that necessary, and would turn out haughty and arrogant like his father. At the end, she was left speechless. She had heard the child loved her, and she didn't know if that was more impressive than the explanations that followed.

"Will you teach me to act as a Muggle? I can't make mistakes at school." He petitioned.

"Of course, it won't be hard for you, all you have to do is refrain from speaking about anything magic-related, and you can't call anyone 'Muggle', or let them know you know nothing about their world, you must act naturally, like any Muggle would."

"It doesn't sound so simple. How will I make them believe I am like them when I actually don't know anything about their world?"

"Look." Hermione opened the bar's door to get out and enter the Muggle world, still holding his hand; she nodded for him to look ahead. "See all those people? They are Muggles; they are like you and me. They walk like us, they speak like us, they just don't know as much as us. All you have to do is mimic them and they won't doubt you are one of them."

Sebastian watched them closely with a calculating stare, he attempted to register each person that went by on the streets; after a moment, he spoke again: "So I have to pretend I know nothing?"

"Something like that" Hermione held his hand tightly and they began walking, mingling with the people of the city. "You know, I will get you a book about Muggles so you can feel safer, is that all right?"

The child nodded his head, absorbed by everything he saw. He was surprised to see the neon signs over huge buildings, cars going through the streets, and the extravagant clothes the Muggles wore; and so many devices he had never seen in his life and couldn't quite understand.

Sebastian seemed to consider Hermione's plans as his own mission, and tried by all means to collaborate with her when the time came to shop for clothes and school supplies. He was very careful not to speak loud, and he only spoke to her when he wondered what was each thing for. He was most amazed by the calculator to do math—which was so easy for him—and the erasers and the pencils they used instead of the magical quills.

When they were done shopping, it was 9 pm. Tomorrow Hermione would have to take the day off to enroll the child at an institute; being in London, she had taken her chance to obtain pamphlets about the best schools, which she would go over tonight.

But before doing that, she had to make sure she couldn't send him back to his own time.

A/N: We'll get to know more about Sebastian in the following chapters; I think in C6 Ron appears and drama ensues! Thank you so much for reviewing, it's always nice to read your reviews, my dear readers. Cookies for all of you!


	5. Do you know what you are doing?

When they arrived at the apartment that night, Hermione started preparing dinner while Sebastian arranged his school supplies and new clothes; after finishing piling up his books and preparing a school bag, the child decided to go and see what his mother was doing; he stood next to her—as if he belonged there—and watched what she did with extreme curiosity.

"Why are you doing that? He asked after being watching for less than a minute how Hermione chopped a carrot in tiny pieces.

"What? Chopping the vegetables?" It was a strange question, may be the child had never seen someone cooking; it was possible that her son was the first Malfoy to step into a kitchen.

"Yes, it looks like the work a domestic would do." He said with a hint of disdain in his voice.

She smiled; so the child did know what she was doing, what surprised him was the fact that she was doing it. He surely had been raised as any other Malfoy, used to haven others do the _domestic _work for them.

"Not everybody has the money to pay another person to do this kind of things, honey."

"Is that why your house is so small?" He wondered "Is it because you don't have much money?"

"What I have is enough to live well, I don't have much, but I don't have little either; I have just enough." She replied with a smile.

"I didn't know one could have enough money." He commented pensively.

Hermione laughed out loud when she heard that, making Sebastian blush in the process; no doubt he had been raised by Lucius Malfoy, a man with a limitless ambition; why would someone like him think one could have enough money if there was a chance to have even more?

During dinner, Sebastian ate until he had his fill; Hermione had been worried he'd refuse to eat her meals since he had been used to much fancier food, but the child appeared to be eating not only out of habit, but in excess. Could it be because she had prepared the meal? It had not happened the same at breakfast, but in that occasion she had served him cereals and yogurt—which she obviously hadn't made herself. Sebastian appeared to be amazed by everything she did, by everything related to her, it would seem he had taken her as a role model. It was curious, since he had been told so little about his mother, a role Narcissa appeared to have fulfilled. Would he behave the same with Narcissa? In which case, how come he didn't miss the woman who had raised him?

"Don't you miss your grandmother, Sebastian?" She asked him curiously.

The child stopped for a moment and swallowed to reply: "Not much because I'm with you, and you're like her. Besides, grandmother will come to visit as soon as she has time."

"What do you mean I am like her?" In any other circumstance, she would have taken that as an insult, but Sebastian spoke very highly of his grandmother.

"Or she is like you. It's just that I used to think my grandmother was in fact my mother, but when she told me she was not, I wanted to meet you. And you behave with me like she does."

Hermione supposed he meant she treated him the same way Narcissa Malfoy did; it was hard for her to imagine the woman as an affectionate grandmother that protected her grandson, but apparently, that's exactly how it had been.

"Why did you believe she was your mother?," asked Hermione.

"Because I used to see other kids with their mothers and I thought they were the same as my grandmother; I didn't understand the difference until she explained it to me," replied Sebastian.

"What did she explain you? Did she tell you why you didn't have a mother like the other children?"

Hermione had caught him off guard, and Sebastian didn't seem to notice; although he was very thoughtful before answering. "Sort of… she told me not every child has a mother, nor a father, nor grandparents. She told me I was lucky to have my father and my grandparents, and that that was enough."

That was all the information she could get out of him, and she was left the same as she was before: with nothing, nothing useful about her at least. Nothing that could explain what had happened with her. So she had the same questions regarding her relationship with Malfoy and about her life as she did before; and the more she thought about it, the more questions she had. Just in her head there were a thousand possibilities.

"You didn't tell me today was your birthday." When they finished their dinner, Hermione served him a slice of cake she had bought him and kissed him in the cheek. "Congratulations!" She said smiling; but the child stared at her confused.

"Is it important?" he asked, the date seemed to be of little significance to him.

"Why wouldn't it be? You only have one birthday per year!" She tried to cheer him up, but he seemed to feel uncomfortable. "Your grandparents don't celebrate your birthdays?"

"My grandparents give me presents, but we don't celebrate birthdays."

"None?"

The child shook his head, he didn't seem to comprehend what was the deal with his birthday, and Hermione wondered if that behavior of not celebrating birthdays was something common among families like the Malfoys or may be it was something specially theirs. May be it wasn't a custom, but still, it was wrong, it was even offensive the fact that they never celebrated a birthday party for her son; she would have thrown a party had she been told in advance.

'_A Birthday party… it wouldn't be a bad idea, may be when he makes friends at school…'_

"No, we don't celebrate anything," he said.

Nothing… it sounded so cold it made sense, it was the Malfoy's typical attitude. If her son stayed a few more weeks, she'd made sure that changed.

When the time to sleep came, Hermione transformed her queen sized bed into two small ones in order to share the room with her son; it would have been better of course that the child had a bedroom of his own, but Hermione's apartment didn't have any more space. The other option was that either of them slept on the couch in the living room, but that wouldn't work well either. Sebastian needed a place where he could feel safe and protected, it would be better for him to have a bed in a bedroom, in which case it would be good for him to have her around; besides, if she slept on the couch, she'd end waking up in pain, and then she'd have to go to work in that state.

When Hermione helped the child to change into his pajamas, she found out he kept a picture of herself between his clothes, it was rather wrinkled.

"What if I fix it with a spell and we put it in a portrait?" She offered him; the child seemed to hesitate at the beginning, but ended up grateful for it. Then, Hermione applied a spell that made it look as good as new, and placed the framed picture over the night table, next to her son's bed.

Sebastian appeared to be happy with the idea, and proceeded to lay down in his new bed.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" She asked him, hoping to get something, anything that could explain how he got there.

"Such as? He asked as he made himself more comfortable.

"Something you did before going to sleep, or some dream you may have had… anything out of the ordinary." Hermione straightened the blanked on top of Sebastian.

Sebastian thought about it for a moment, he seemed doubtful; and with the same doubtful expression, he replied: "Nothing out of the ordinary." He shrugged and went on: "Do you want me to tell you what I did before going to bed?"

"Sure." She nodded her head and smiled to cheer him up; he didn't understand how relevant it could be, but he wanted to please her at all costs.

"I had dinner with my grandparents and then my grandmother took me to my room and I fell asleep."

A rather detail-free explanation for her, but what else could she expect? Sebastian hadn't perceived anything out of the ordinary, it appeared to have been a night like any other; he probably had nothing to do with what happened, may be someone sent him while he slept.

"And, did you dream about anything?" She wondered.

"Yes, a nightmare, but that's not odd."

"No? What did you dream about?" A nightmare, that could be of use; he could have witnessed a dark magic ritual that freaked him out so bad that made him consider it a nightmare; and that could have made him travel back in time.

Sebastian's discomfort with the question was evident. Hermione sensed the tension in the little boy. He turned his head away from Hermione's prying eyes before speaking in a whisper, as if he were still scared: "I dreamt father had died."

Hermione was surprised, she had not expected to hear something so disconcerting coming from the dreams of her child; and at the same time, she found it curious that he considered it a nightmare and not a simple dream, because he seemed to hate his father, and with reason. His life would change a lot if he had an emotionally stable father with no drinking problems; besides, in all her conversations with Sebastian there was no indication of affection towards his father, and the other way around either. And how could she link that kind of nightmare with time traveling?

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she insisted, trying to hide her anxiety.

Surprisingly, Sebastian was willing to talk about it. "I dreamt I heard grandmother screaming, so I got up and followed the sound of her voice; I reached the wing where father's room is, and my grandparents were there. Father was lying down on his bed, he wasn't moving, and grandmother cried on top of him; grandfather tried to calm her down, father didn't react, so I thought he was dead. Grandfather saw me on the door and right away he came to me and took me almost running back to my room without saying anything. He didn't allow me to ask questions, he just punished me for getting up when I didn't have to and then he left." Sebastian made a pause for a moment, searching in his memory for whatever was missing." But it was just a dream. Father woke me up and brought me to you."

"And you didn't find it odd that he'd bring you with me after all those years?"

"Yes, but father always does strange things; I don't understand him."

May be she was asking too much of a young boy barely able to understand what was happening around him; no doubt he was very intelligent and capable, but he was still a child, and as such, he didn't have enough experience to understand the workings of the world. The Malfoys, on one side, tried to protect him from his father—at least that's what she realized—and his father lived in a serious alcoholic state. What Hermione didn't know was if he drank because he liked to do so, or because he was depressed, or may be he was just into wild parties. Sebastian had been raised in that environment, and most of his father's behaviour was normal to him, which made sense because he had no one else to compare his father to. So, that's probably why it wasn't odd for him not to have a mother, or that his father hated him, or that his grandparents were devoted to raise him, or that his father one day woke up and decided he had to meet his unknown mother.

And how much of what he told her was real and which was just his imagination? Children, after all, tend to explain reality—a reality they didn't completely understand—through stories and make believe tales; what he didn't completely understand could be distorted, not because he wanted to lie, but because it was his way of interpreting things beyond his comprehension. What if his nightmare wasn't a dream but reality instead? What if the Draco Malfoy in his world actually died on his bed like he had witnessed in his pretend dream? What could it mean? And she didn't have the detail that worried her the most: How did he get here? That must be her priority; even if she cared a lot for him, in truth that child didn't belong in that world or time, and time travelers weren't supposed to intervene with the future or the past. But even if he did that or not, she wasn't all that interested in the course of time, her priority was the child's well being. How could she help him? What had he come to do?

May be his only wish had been to meet her, and somehow magic helped him come to his mother. Could it be possible that the only way to meet his mother was to travel back in time, before his conception? Did that mean in the future there was no place for both of them?

"_No… I shouldn't think that. Nothing's going to happen."_ She told herself; her priority had to be her son, she didn't have to worry with ideas about an uncertain future. The most important thing was the how, not the why.

After leaving the child so he could fall sleep alone in the bedroom, Hermione went to the living room to read the book they had given her at court. It was a compilation of stories and declarations, and theories by different authors about the subject and each special case. She didn't find anything she hadn't already found out by herself: time travelers had a mission, even if it was unknown to them, it was believed they could return after accomplishing that mission. But… what kind of mission could her boy have? To meet her? If that was the case, he had already met her, may be he wouldn't stay for more than a day.

There was no information in that book about parallel worlds; it was a subject way more extraordinary than time traveling—which at least was known to exist. The difference being, parallel traveling was a hypothesis, there wasn't any concrete evidence on the subject, no files to help with the investigation.

Anyhow, Hermione Granger could hardly imagine a world in which she had a good relationship with Draco Malfoy, because they would have to lose the essence of their personalities, they just didn't match. A world in which she behaved and acted differently could exist, but what made her Hermione Granger? She wouldn't lose who she was, her personality, her character, whatever makes a person. For that same reason, if she could love a Draco Malfoy from another world, there should also be a chance that she could love him in this world. But, what if she never loved him in her child's world?

Hermione sighed deeply, it was past midnight already. Sebastian had fallen asleep over two hours ago, the same time she had been reading her new book and examining the school pamphlets she had gathered.

"_Should I be doing this?" _she wondered; may be her child would disappear before he could speak with a muggle for the very first time. She got a lump on her throat just thinking about it; it was an odd sensation to feel at that moment, wasn't it actually a good thing for the child to return to his world? Shouldn't she be happy of not having to worry over him and having to give explanations to her boyfriend?

But in the day they had spent together, Hermione realized she liked being with him, she liked to take care of him, feed him, dress him, talk to him, and teach him new things. She was fascinated by his shinning eyes each time he liked something, it was very sweet to look at him; and there was something special, something hard to explain… the fact that he was hers, her same blood, a product of herself… it was an odd sensation, because she had never even been pregnant with him, less raised him, but by meeting him and knowing he was hers—even if she didn't know if he'd ever get to exist in that time—something happened to her, it was as if a new part of her heart was discovered, a part she didn't know about, a place he had claimed. Her son had claimed a part of her heart, and Hermione believed he was there, in her heart, to stay.

For that same reason, when she decided it was time to go to bed, she feared to go into the room. She feared to go in and see the child was no longer there, she feared he would disappear as abruptly as he came into her life. She opened the door carefully and sighed in relief when she saw the little one was still there, sleeping peacefully. Hermione couldn't tell whether he looked more adorable sleeping or awake, but anyhow it was a lovely sight; she could hardly say the same thing about Draco Malfoy at that age, since she had never seen him sleeping. She had seen him awake and never seen the same expression as Sebastian's; thankfully the resemblance between father and son was only physical.

Although she couldn't be completely sure, since she didn't know Draco Malfoy very well. She had no idea what kind of child he had been outside Hogwarts when he was Sebastian's age, nor what he was like today in the privacy of his home, or what kind of a father he'd be to his future children—if he ever had any with his future wife, Astoria Greengrass, which was a possibility at the moment. She couldn't know either if it was a fact he had drinking problems or hated children. In truth, she didn't know him. Was he worth knowing?

Hermione lied down on her bed, staring at her son sleeping under the moonlight. He was beautiful; and she didn't know if it wasn't selfish of her to want to see him the following morning.

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A/N: I am so sorry it's taken so long! I promise I'll try to have the next one sooner. Next chapter Hermione tries to get Sebastian to school. See you all and thank you for reviewing. :)


	6. Advances and Proyects

Hermione Granger usually wasn't afraid of opening her eyes; after a night in which she could barely sleep, she awoke very early in the very same position she had taken when she laid down on bed hours ago. Remaining on her side, she watched her son sleep, partly relieved because he was still there, partly worried because he could disappear.

She assumed that if Malfoy had taken him to her house at six am in the morning, he probably saw him not too long ago, so he had to have arrived around 5 am, if not before. One of her ideas was that, after 24 hours of his arrival, he'd return to his time; but at 6:01 am, the boy continued sleeping on his new bed.

And Hermione kept wondering over and over again the same things: Was it right to feel like she felt? Wanting to have him with her? Fearing he'd disappear from her life? Wanting to live in a world where he exists. No doubt it was a very confusing situation. On one side, her maternal instincts had woken up, which was unavoidable, because he was her son; and, on the other side, Hermione knew it wasn't right to allow him to stay in a time he didn't belong to, even if it wasn't up to her.

"What are we doing today?" Was the first thing he asked when he opened his eyes. It was very early, but the boy was already as awake and conscious as he could at his age. Hermione didn't usually wake up so early, but the circumstances made her. Now she was a mother and had to take on that role.

She didn't mind having to take care of him, it was odd, but she even liked doing it; but at the same time she felt sorry for other single mothers—she considered herself one—having to focus all of their time on their children and at the same time having to work, with no help whatsoever.

And whom could she call for help? She didn't consider leaving him with a babysitter, she didn't think it was a possibility. Leaving her only child whom she barely knew with a complete stranger wasn't a possibility. She had her parents, who also had their own jobs and even if they didn't have to work, there was the fact she'd have to give them plenty of explanations, and there were things she couldn't even explain. Molly Weasley, housewife, would be an excellent choice if not for the fact that she was her boyfriend's mother, who wouldn't take well at all that little surprise. Hermione didn't know yet how she would explain him about Sebastian, and didn't want to even think about the result of that explanation, because it wasn't possible that it would turn out right.

Although, thank Merlin, Sebastian was a very well behaved boy. He was very curious and enthusiastic, but at the same time very respectful and careful; he wasn't demanding nor spoiled, which wasn't usual in a boy of that age, but surely the Malfoys had a great influence on his attitude.

Anyhow, Hermione never thought there would come a time in her life in which she'd have to ask for a day off at work, but her life had changed drastically since yesterday, and she had to make sure she'd get him a full-time school. It would be very hard because school started next Monday, it would be hard to find any vacant space, but Hermione would accomplish it even if she had to use magic to do so.

Because magic had brought her the child, magic would solve the problem.

"_Ugh… I'm starting to think like a slytherin."_ She lamented, since it was against her principles to do that kind of things, but she didn't plan on harming anyone and she'd only do it if she didn't have any choice.

And after visiting seven private institutes which were pretty well considered and Malfoy's money could pay, Hermione decided there wasn't any other choice. In every other school the message had been the same:_ "there are no more vacancies". _They couldn't even tell her of other places to go to. Using magic seemed more appropriate than bribing the school's directors. And after managing to have one director try a cookie prepared with _aquisentia_, a potion that makes people pretty eager to accept almost anything they are told, Hermione managed to get an evaluation interview for her son.

Sebastian was eager to have his knowledge evaluated; Hermione didn't doubt his abilities, but she was worried his lack of knowledge about the muggle world affected his exam. It would be completely unfair that her boy couldn't have a good education because he was raised by the Malfoys, that was Hermione's train of thought once she had to use magic in her favor.

"You are the child's mother?" Exclaimed the woman in charge of admissions when she saw her, surprised, a woman rather older than Hermione, tall and thin, with her black hair tied in a tight bun, and a dark grey suit with the school's emblem.

"I am." Nodded Hermione, worried by the woman's attitude. What could be so strange that she stared at her with such surprise and caution?

"Excuse my surprise, but you look so young to be a mother!"

"Oh…"—Right, that was it. Hermione supposed she had to get used to that kind of sentences, after all, she'd have to say she had become a mother at adolescence, which wasn't very common there at that school. "I got pregnant at 16." It was pretty hard for her to fake serenity, since the stare of that woman was rather annoying. Why would she be concerned about Hermione having a child at sixteen? Even if it wasn't true, she had nothing to be ashamed of.

"And the father?" the woman went on; with that face she only needed to be judged for not being married to the father of her son.

"He left us." Her answer was rather short and straight; it seemed to have an effect on the woman, who suddenly changed her face to one of condescendence.—"I understand you need both of us to sign, but I have the papers that prove I have full custody." Papers she had to create with some help of her magic wand so they would look as if they were from the muggle world.

"The results of your son's exam are rather peculiar, miss Granger."—Said the woman in charge, wanting to go on; both of them were seating in her office, the woman examining papers about the child.—"He had a very advanced level of arithmetic for his age; and his writing, orthography, and grammar seem those of an adult."

Hermione felt proud when she heard that, but a part of her knew something else was in order, and she knew she was right suspecting it when she her the "however" that followed short after.

"Besides he speaks such good French it seems his natal language, and he has a pretty good German as well; he has told me he spends full seasons in other countries, no doubt he has had a very moving life."—She commented, then made a short pause and went on.—"However, he doesn't seem to understand science very well; and I don't know what to say about his history knowledge, since he appears to have such a great imagination."

"He's a very creative boy." Hermione tried to excuse him; she had some idea of why the woman had used the term _"great imagination." _

"No doubt, he claims his preferred animal is the Ukrainian ironbelly dragon, at least that's what he wrote here, I asked him how many different species of dragons he knew, and he describe ten different species. I don't know where children take this stuff from nowadays."—The woman shook her head with an ironic smile and went on: "When I asked him what his favorite sport was, he mentioned something called quidditch, a game with tree balls, fourteen players and brooms, invented more than a thousand years ago according to him."—The woman laughed out loud when she remembered, Hermione tried to smile to pretend she wasn't freaking out. –"But what's most impressive is his descriptions, ¡so detailed and precise!"

"He's always been very… thoughtful." Said a very pale Hermione.

"Yes, I am sure about that. What worries me if the level of thoughtfulness he has, Miss. He seems pretty convinced about everything he tells; is he very adept to fantastic stories?"

"He is! That's my fault, I've read him that kind of tales ever since he was a baby."

"I see."—The woman made a pause to look at something else among the papers she had in her desk.—"That explains a lot. The boy mentioned his grandparents educated him, why did you decide to make things different this year?"

"I realized he was already old enough to come to an institute and relate with children his age. I didn't think it was right to have him go so many hours to the institute when he was just six years old."

"Well, his grandparents made a great job in the language and mathematics area. I usually would recommend to place him on a higher level, but having such low results in sicence and history, I think it would be best he was in the correct level for his age: second grade."

"So you accept him?" –Hermione's face brightened up, and sighed in relief when the woman in charge nodded her head. She had made it.

"We are glad to take tiny diamonds as yours, Miss Granger. School starts next Monday here at 8 am. I suggest you buy the uniform before leaving the building."

Hermione sighed in relief when she left that office, Sebastian was waiting for her there in the waiting room, sitting on a chair, in his own world.

"Have I been accepted?" He asked.

"Yes! You made quite the impression. But, what was all that about quidditch and dragons?"

The child blushed a little and stared down to the floor, he spoke in a whisper. "I didn't know that didn't exist here."

She had assumed that, and that's the reason why she didn't want to scold him for his mistake, but at the same time, the child had to realize he couldn't make such mistakes; his short age was a benefit for him, because adult muggles would believe everything was of his own invention.

"Every creature you see in a bestiary index doesn't exist for muggles, Sebastian."—Hermione explained him while they walked down the streets of Diagon Alley, going to a bookstore.—"Neither the activities that include objects that can fly, such as brooms and quidditch balls."

The boy nodded his head, he listened with much care and interest to everything Hermione said; and he only let go of her hand the moment he saw the Flourish and Blotts bookstore: he run to get there with a huge smile on his face. She followed him calmly, partly proud for his enthusiasm, partly worried the child would run into somebody. When she got in, Sebastian was already talking to the woman in charge, whom observed him with an odd look on her face.

"Mrs. Mc Namara, where's the muggle section?"

The woman, searching among her memories for a clue of who that boy was since he treated her with such a natural manner, pointed her finger to the requested section. Sebastian run to the signaled direction while Hermione closed the door behind her.

"My nephew." She explained.

"Oh, I see."—Exclaimed the woman, considering it was a reasonable explanation.—"I guess he reminds me of you then, although there seems to be something that doesn't fit. It's like I am missing something."

Hermione shrugged, not knowing what to say nor willing to give more explanations; she went to the muggle section where the child already had five books piled up against his chest.

"Look! There are lots! I never thought there would be so many; my grandparents never allowed me to come to this section."

'It doesn't surprise me'. She approached him and took the books he was carrying to see them. "A practical guide to understand the muggle world.", "The muggle manual for the average wizard.", "Elemental treaty regarding muggles.", "A life without magic." and "Elemental encyclopedia about muggle objects." "Will you feel safer reading all these books?"

Sebastian nodded his head, completely enthusiastic for all he had to read; Hermione held his hand to take him to the counter, and also to prevent him from picking more books; even if the money she was planning on using was Malfoy's, she had to take care of her budget.

"Are you planning on going ahead of Hogwarts, little one?" The woman in charge asked him while she placed the books in a bag.

"It's for the muggles to believe I am like them; but don't tell my grandparents, please."

"Your grandparents?" The woman squinted, trying to see him better and remember where she knew him from; Sebastian had not noticed the woman's uncertainty.

"Sebastian, why don't you go to the store in the corner and buy something to eat?" Hermione was fast to intervene before the child could give away more information, she gave him some galleons and sent him outside.

While Sebastian was in a hurry to do as he was told, Hermione paid the employee and took the book bag.

"Your parents don't care for him reading muggle books?" she asked her.

"It's just that… my parents are muggles; and books about muggles written by wizard seem unrealistic for them."

Lately, lying wasn't hard to achieve, although she wasn't sure her face matched the certainty in her voice, since the woman in front of her stared with a skeptical look.

When she left the book store and started walking to where her son should be buying who knows what, she unexpectedly saw Draco Malfoy—with a scold on his face—walking along with a young, thing woman, with straight blonde hair, dressed in particularly expensive clothes—she was holding his arm, she had to be his fiancée. Hermione had read something about them in a magazine—going through the pages, she saw the article by chance-, that was Astoria Greengrass, younger sister of her classmate Daphne, who was in Slytherin. They had gotten engaged about a month ago and were supposed to get married by the end of the year.

When she saw them together, Hermione felt something strange. She felt something was wrong, as if seeing them together were a mistake, something wrong with reality. But what was wrong? Hermione had nothing to do with Malfoy, never had, neither did she think there was a chance for them. The man wanted to get rid of the child, it was pretty damn clear.

But what if that meant Sebastian would never exist? Right now he was with her, but for how long? She couldn't know. Could she get over his disappearance? It was very possible that would happen any moment; ever since she found out where he came from, Hermione had not wanted to get too attached to him, but she wasn't like Draco Malfoy, she couldn't help it; she already loved him. It made her happy to be around him, she liked to take care of him and was overjoyed by the idea of teaching him anything; she loved to dress him and chat with him, he was most adorable and intelligent; in only a day Sebastian had gotten himself a place in her heart, and he'd hardly could get rid of it, even if he physically left her.

She felt horrible, right there, in that place, because she thought with all honesty that it was worth to be with Malfoy if that meant being able to have Sebastian always with her. How could she feel that when she loved Ron? How could she love a child so much she had barely known for a day? How could he affect her so that she wanted to get to know his father better and get to understand him? And why did she suddenly felt disgusted towards Astoria Greengrass? She didn't know her, she had nothing to do with the matter at hand… just like Ron.

_'No, I can't allow this problem to affect my relationship with Ron.'_ In the same way Malfoy wouldn't allow it to affect his own relationship with Greengrass. It didn't make any sense to consider something like that. The child wouldn't stay forever, he could stay for a day, a week, a month or years, but he'd end up disappearing from her life, because he didn't belong in that time, in that world, dimension or whatever.

But Hermione couldn't help feeling blue when she thought that Sebastian, her son, would leave her eventually.

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A/N: Sorry for the delay, I had a problem with a beta. I hope to be able to post next chapter next week. On C7 we have an encounter with the Malfoys!

By the way, I see many story alerts, but not many reviews. Review please people! It's easier to write a story when the readers review.


	7. Unexpected Encounters

After a few minutes of thinking about everything that had been going on, Hermione realized Sebastian must had been waiting for her in the store next door; when she got in, she greeted the owner and started looking for her son. After going through all the hallways of the tiny store, a new feeling arose within her: panic.

"Mr. Smith, have you seen a blond haired boy about this height?" She asked the man in charge, placing a hand barely above her waist.

"Yes, he bought some candy and left… about five minutes ago."

"Five minutes?" Not thinking twice about it, she ran to get out of the store and search for him. How could she have taken so long to go from one place to the other, and how could the boy have finished so fast?

Her questions and self-criticism finished when she found the child in front of her, carrying a bag of candy with one hand, an innocent look upon his face. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Hermione kneeled in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders, absolutely worked up,

"Where were you?" She sighed loudly. "Do you know how worried I was?"

Sebastian, surprised by Hermione's attitude, waited a moment to answer, not entirely sure of how he should react to his mother's concern. "I had something to do, I didn't think you'd mind." With each second that went by, his facial expression turned more like hers. "Did I take too long?"

"No, it's not that, Sebastian. You can't do anything without telling me first; something could have happened to you. I thought you would have met with…"

Before she could finish his phrase, the child's look changed from one of worry to one of horror, and he suddenly hugged Hermione's neck, hiding his face between her hair.

"Father is there." He whispered in her ear, as if he feared the man in the front sidewalk could hear him.

"Malfoy… I mean, you father, can't do anything to you while you are with me, Sebastian."

The child turned his head to one side to take a look at his father from that position, still with Hermione's hair working as a curtain covering his eyes.

"He looks odd." He commented.

"What's odd about his looks?" Hermione unattached herself gently from the child in order to stand up; the boy was so focused and clinging so tightly to her, he didn't react immediately.

"He looks as if grandmother had dressed him, he looks good." When he left Hermione's neck, he was quick to take her hand and stand on one side in order not to be seen by Draco. "And besides, he is with a different girl; his girlfriends usually aren't like that."

"¿Girlfriends?" Asked Hermione, suddenly curious.

Sebastian nodded his head. "They usually don't dress up like that; and they are usually as messy as he is; grandfather calls them a particular word, but grandmother doesn't allow me to repeat it."

It sure sounded like the Draco Malfoy of his time were devoted not only to alcohol; not only he was an aggressive drunk, but he also spent his time with whores? How could she ever be interested in someone like that? How could she choose him to have a child? If she had actually chosen him; if in truth, in the present, Malfoy was the same man Sebastian described. After all, how could she tell Malfoy didn't have drinking problems and frequented hookers? What she saw now could be just his exterior appearance, but during the night, far away from the eyes of the society that would judge him, maybe he carried on with a life out of control.

Although, in spite of not knowing him well enough, it was hard to believe Draco Malfoy could have a level of alcoholism and violence such as that her son described. Besides, along with his stories, the child had also said his father's appearance matched his life style, and right now that wasn't the case, his own son had said so.

"And do you see those girls often? Have you spoken to them?" It was something that worried her. How much contact had her son had with those kind of women? It was already bad enough that he could see him drunk and that he acted aggressively around him—even if his grandparents defended him, Sebastian knew what his father was capable of—but did he also have to meet his girlfriends?

"No, I know they are home but I'm not allowed to see or speak to them. I usually listen to grandfather yelling at my father to get them out of the Manor. I think they annoy him, they laugh so hard. Grandmother doesn't like them either, but she prefers not to talk about them."

"But you've seen them." Said Hermione with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yes, I once saw father walking with one through a hall, he was very upset when he saw me…" Sebastian didn't seem to be comfortable talking about it. "But I usually see them from the balcony of my bedroom in the mornings, when they are leaving."

"It sure sounds like your father has a busy schedule." She commented with sarcasm.

"Grandfather says he wastes his life."

"Your grandfather sure knows what he says." It was probably the first time in her life Hermione could say she agreed with Lucius Malfoy; no doubt that was the oddest day of her life.

"Yes, grandmother always says that if I question him."

What was also amazing was the fact that Hermione felt strangely thankful towards Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy—at least to those of Sebastian's world—because it seemed they had taken care of him eagerly, they had raised him, taught him, defended him, maybe with methods she did not approve of, but at least they had kept Sebastian's innocence intact, despite his father's influence.

Only a few minutes later, mother and son were strolling through Diagon Alley, far away from Draco Malfoy's sight. Sebastian had an ice-cream in one hand, and Hermione's hand on the other, she, in the meantime, was calculating how many galleons she'd have after paying the school and the list of books they had given him. Education was, with no doubt, the most expensive issue when raising a child, but she had also chosen a pretty expensive institute. Anyhow, her son deserved it, and besides, it was Malfoy's money.

Ironically, just as she was imagining the face Lucius Malfoy would put on if he ever found out the expense his grandson would inflict on him, she almost had a heart attack when her son let go of her hand and run up to the same man she had been thinking of.

"Grandfather!" yelled Sebastian, running through the mass of people who thankfully didn't mind the strange scene. Hermione followed him almost immediately, but her size prevented her from having the same ease to dodge people, so, when she finally reached him, the child already was already in front of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, the last had just Apparated by Lucius side.

"Sebastian?" Asked Narcissa with interest and a touch of insecurity in her voice. Hermione had never seen her with uncertainty when speaking much less with an interested and curious gesture instead of her usual cold and derogatory one.

"Look, grandmother, my mother is just like you said." Sebastian pointed at Hermione, who was by his side, and took Narcissa's hand, who was totally unprepared and appeared to be speechless while she admired the child that looked so much like her own son. "You don't mind if I stay with her?" he asked before anyone could add anything.

The Malfoys stared at the child with interest, and in light of his question, they looked at each other, without really knowing what to do about it. Hermione, not knowing what to say or what to expect, wondered if the child was asking for permission to his grandparents to stay with her or was simply worried about their reactions towards his decision.

Lucius cleared his throat and replied: "No, of course not. But I don't think it would be fair for us to loose you completely either."

"What?" Exclaimed Hermione, astonished. Of all of the answers she had thought of, that one wasn't one of them. What was Lucius Malfoy planning? Why did he want to keep in touch with his grandson, the fruit of what to his eyes had been an impure relationship? And why was he doing her the favor of keeping Sebastian from knowing he wasn't in the right time?

"Are you surprised that after taking care of him for eight years we want to continue enjoying his company, Miss Granger?" Asked Lucius, acting his part, with his usual arrogant face and haughty manners.

"Seven years, you mean, Mr. Malfoy." She corrected him gritting her teeth. Although she was grateful to them for not saying anything out of place to the child, she couldn't avoid being suspicious.

"Seven? I thought they were more." He said making a gesture with his hand as if the mistake had no importance. "Anyway, you must agree with us, we can't just from one day to the other divest the child of his grandparents, who had raised him up until now"

"It would be most traumatic for any child." Said Narcissa, who didn't even bother to look at Hermione when she spoke. She only had eyes for Sebastian, who listened very carefully to everything the grownups said, without knowing which side to take. "He himself sent us a letter to inform us where he's staying, and to request our presence and approval; do you think it's fair to deprive him of his grandparents?"

Hermione was speechless, all she did was take a look at Sebastian with a question in her eyes, waiting for the child to agree with Narcissa, wondering how he had had the time to send them a letter in the few minutes she left him alone not long ago. The child nodded his head once, looking sort of ashamed, opting to stare at the floor while the grownups continued talking.

"No, of course it wouldn't be fair." She started saying, with much caution, choosing her words very carefully. "And I am sure we can do something sometime, despite our busy schedules."

Of course she didn't want her son to have any sort of contact with the Malfoys, even less so knowing the two elders were planning something. Truthfully, did it make any sense for them to be interested in a child whose existence—according to their beliefs—was an insult to their legacy? It would be absolutely irresponsible to allow the child to be alone with them, not alone or with her watching over him. But what explanation could she come up with to prevent them from seeing each other? Even if the Malfoy's attitude was just an act, what they said was true, it wasn't reasonable to switch the child from one environment to another from one day to the other as if nothing happened, it wasn't logical, he was far too young, and since he had been raised by them he'd surely miss them when all the emotion of being with his mother passed.

"What do you think about having dinner with us tonight, sweetheart? Your mother is invited too, of course." Narcissa asked Sebastian, showing a smile, surprising Hermione, who had never seen her smile. When Narcissa smiled, one could easily tell Sebastian was related to her. It was impressive to realize her son had the same smile as Narcissa Malfoy; that realization left her so astonished it took her a moment to realize that the woman who had to hate her deeply had invited her to have dinner that night using her son as the conduit.

"Can we go?" Asked Sebastian with a pitiful look on his face. It would be hard to say no, but she was not going to have dinner with the Malfoys. Not only was that against her principles, but also, thinking about it, it would be ridiculous and even insulting to have dinner with the Malfoys—even if it was for her son's sake—before telling her own parents what was going on, and what about Ron and Harry? They had reason enough to feel betrayed already without her meeting with her son's grandparents. And, of course, there was the fact about the father of her child to whom she would have to go to in order to get out of this.

"I don't think we can go tonight, sweetheart. We have to take advantage of all the time we have left to prepare you for Monday." She explained to him carefully, with a sweetness in her voice; then she rose her head up to talk to the Malfoys. "Besides, I don't think Malfoy Manor is the best place to meet… not with Draco's drinking problem…" she added in the same manner Narcissa did, pretending to know about the child's circumstances. Her advantage—she hoped—was that she knew more than them. And such a declaration would catch them off guard.

And just like she had guessed, the Malfoy's expression changed drastically. Lucius stared at her with incredulity and suspicion, while Narcissa was left speechless and worried. But having so much experience with cheating and lying, they wouldn't be seen like that for long.

"That's one of the many subjects we have to discuss, Miss Granger," said Lucius, pretending to clear his throat. "As well as everything concerning this child."

No doubt the Malfoys wanted information, Hermione was sure about that. It made sense for them to leave behind all of their prejudices if they could benefit from the child's knowledge, although a child that age couldn't have as much information as they would like. Come to think of it, Hermione thought, it would be useful to have the Malfoys by her side to find out about things that worried her, they might even have something in common. Lucius Malfoy himself had said so, they wanted to find out everything regarding the child's existence, but she couldn't allow her son to be the means to an end for the Malfoys, who, unlike her, only wanted him not for his own good but their own.

"Anything regarding him it's my business, Mr. Malfoy." Replied Hermione sharply, and politely at the same time.

"Yes, I know my son gave you full custody." Lucius shook his head disapproving, and exasperated, he went on. "But with the right kind of legal advise those issues could be resolve." When he said that, he showed a wicked smile and a cold stare. Hermione realized that was a threat, but she wasn't going to let him intimidate her, no she knew what her position was and which was theirs: since after the war, the Malfoys couldn't risk doing anything illegal, freedom had been very expensive for them, and despite being free, they were being watched closely by the Ministry.

"Not even the best lawyers in the world could take the custody from me."

"But what makes you think we'd do something like that? We'd never deprive the child of his mother." Said Lucius, pretending feeling insulted by Hermione's words. "A shared custody, however, does seem appropriate to me."

Hermione's heart started raging when she heard that; of course there was no way they could get full custody, but they could make Draco ask for shared custody, and with all the money they had, it wouldn't be hard for them to achieve it. Of course, that was no more than a threat, the Malfoys weren't really interested in having custody of the boy, but they were capable of starting a trial and eventually get what they wanted; and they'd get it despite her opinion.

"I don't want to go back to father, grandfather." Interjected Sebastian carefully before his mother could speak, he showed a bit of fear at his participation in the conversation, he had probably been taught he wasn't supposed to intervene in adult conversations. "Won't we get to see each other even if I live with my mother?"

"Of course we will, honey." Said Narcissa with her unique sweet voice, a voice Hermione had only heard her use for Sebastian. "But it may take us some time."

Hermione was between a rock and a hard place as Lucius Malfoy's arrogant and triumphant grin indicated. Sebastian wanted to spend time with them, and it made sense because they were his family. And one couldn't expect them to give up, they would get their way somehow. How could she avoid it?

"I am sure we can get to an agreement with no need of a mediator." said Hermione, resigned and trying to pretend to be calm, because later she'd have to explain the matter to Sebastian.

"Very well, we shall keep in contact." Lucius Malfoy smiled widely, with the same arrogant expression as before. "We'll see you soon." He winked at Sebastian, and, followed by his wife who was also saying goodbye to the child, Disapparated.

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A/N: Next chapter Ron appears! Reviews are much appreciated and make the author update faster. Thank you to Elena for betaing this chapter.


	8. An Untimely Confrontation

When Ronald Weasley got a letter from Hermione in which she apologized for not being able to see him for two whole days, it didn't seem odd to him**.** His girlfriend was known for being so into her work that sometimes she even forgot to eat.

More than once had they argued **over **her obsessive compulsive obsession with work, and she always promised to make time for him. Two days were more than enough for her to work comfortably, although it was odd that she needed them, since she was usually far ahead of the things she had to do… so Ron deduced she had been assigned a new case, which would mean a better job offer; so it was a reason to be happy, not upset.

But there was no place for joy when he went to her office at lunch time that Friday**;** since he was informed Hermione had asked to have the day off.

He didn't know if he should feel worried, upset, or what. That, no doubt, wasn't normal.

So he didn't think of anything better than going to her apartment, if she had missed work, she was probably there. But no one answered the door; Ron had the key—they had been together for 5 years after all—and when he got in, he realized she wasn't there; but the oddest thing was that in the bedroom there were two beds instead of a big one, and not only that, it was all fixed for two people to sleep there. He first thought maybe he was in another apartment, but when he saw the portraits in the living room where they could be seen both her and him together, he was sure he was in the right place.

The most logical conclusion was that someone had stayed over, the odd thing was that they shared the same bedroom; a guest could sleep on the sofa… except he was someone very close and Hermione wanted him to sleep on a bed? But in that case she'd leave the whole bed… it didn't make any sense.

Hermione wasn't at work—where she should be-, she wasn't in her apartment, she wasn't at Harry's—Ron had spoken to him not long ago, they worked together after all—all he had left to check was her parents' home, where she wasn't staying either.

Ron, being an auror, knew he didn't have to panic. The first thing was to wait for her, maybe she'd arrive at her apartment; therefore, there he was, sitting on the sofa examining the books about muggles that were piled up on the coffee table in the living room, when Hermione arrived an hour later.

He felt instantly relieved when he saw her come in through the door of her home; and also taken aback when he realized she was holding a child's hand, a child that reminded him of other times of his life.

"Hermione?" He asked when he saw her go in, not only for all that had happened, but also because she was blushing as if she had been caught doing something embarrassing.

"Ron! What are you doing here?" She asked all worked up, never letting go of the child's hand, who was staring at the other grown up with caution.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work? And that boy?"

In that moment, Hermione wished more than ever to have a bigger apartment, so she could send her son to another room to be able to speak freely with Ron; or at least to have taught him to watch TV so she could distract him with that while she spoke with Ron in the kitchen. But everything was happening too fast, there was no time to prepare a good explanation, there was no better way to tell the truth to her boyfriend, she even felt ashamed to look at his face knowing what little she did know.

"He is my work." She answered, praying that her boyfriend didn't insist much in front of the child.

"What do you mean? Since when do you ask for the day off to babysit?"

"She is not my nanny." Said Sebastian, feeling offended, his voice was aggressive**;** it would appear such an insinuation was insulting.

Hermione, when she saw the same gesture of disgust that Draco Malfoy usually wore but in Sebastian's face, she was quick to interject: "Why don't we start all over again? Sebastian, this is Ron…"—she said speaking to the boy, and then she looked up at Ron to go on—"Ron, this is Sebastian."

Ron stared at her dumfounded, but he was quick **in **decid**ing** it would be best to play along, and looked down at the boy that stared at him with caution. "Good afternoon, kid." Then he stepped closer to him and offered his hand, but the child didn't move an inch and remained staring at him in the same manner.

"It won't harm you to shake hands with him, sweetheart. It's not polite to keep people waiting." Said Hermione with a sweetness in her voice unknown to Ron.

The child then resigned himself and obeyed his mother with no questions**;** he quickly took Ron's hand and let him shake it without any effort on his part.

"Sebastian, why don't you stay here reading some of your books while I speak with Ron in the kitchen?"

Sebastian only nodded his head and, while Ron let go of his hand, he was fast to go to the sofa and take a book to read. Ron, knowing what Hermione was like, went to the kitchen with no further questions.

Once inside, Hermione placed a silencing spell on the kitchen so nothing could be heard from the outside, and another to prevent the door from being opened.

"Why so much security love? What's wrong?" Asked Ron with a hint of worry in his voice. The situation was pretty odd, especially for his girlfriend's attitude, who appeared to be speechless.

"Why don't you sit down?" She asked while she did exactly that and held her head with her hands on the table.—"I don't know how to start."

"You can tell me anything." Ron said.

"Of course I can tell you anything; we've been together for five years!" She exclaimed, appearing to be about to cry.

"All right…"—Ron said cautiously, assuming she was having one of her womanly days.—"Do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"Not really." **She r**eplied in a whisper without looking at his face.

"What do you mean?"

"Ugh…"—She complained and covered her face with her hands in exasperation.—"Everything would be easier if you just accepted that I have to take care of that child and didn't ask any questions about it."

"But what the heck is going on, Hermione?"—It was his turn to feel irritated.—"Do you really expect me to see you behave like that and ask no questions? You are only managing to worry me even more!"

Hermione didn't answer immediately, before doing it, she inhaled a bunch of air, put her arms over her chest as if protecting herself from something, and closed her eyes in concentration. She still had her eyes closed when she exhaled and spoke: "I love you, Ron, and I can't lie to you." She explained delicately, and then opened her eyes to look at his face. "But I don't know how you will manage to love me if I answer your questions."

"There's nothing you can tell me that can make me stop loving you." He said confidently.

"Maybe, maybe not…"—she went on, her voice started to break.—"But you will be so upset, and I probably deserve it."

Ron didn't know what to say, but he was sure that whatever was bothering Hermione couldn't be as terrible as she thought for their relationship.

"Just… just tell me, please?"

Hermione hesitated then nodded her head once before speaking. "Everything started yesterday morning… Draco Malfoy woke me up ringing the bell at 6 am to leave that child you've just seen."

"Malfoy**!**?" He asked astonished; and not letting her reply, he added: "Malfoy left you a child yesterday just like that and you didn't tell me?"

"If you are going to get upset over that, I won't go on, Ron." She stated firmly.

Seeing her warning, Ron remained silent, but stared at her cautiously.

"And the child turned out to be a Malfoy." Hermione went on cautiously as well.

"He sure looks like one." Commented Ron, unimpressed since he had assumed **it** **from** the first moment he saw him.

"So I took him to the Ministry of Minors, they performed a blood test on him and it turned out that, besides being Draco Malfoy's son…"

"Malfoy has a son?"—Ron interrupted her abruptly, totally surprised, he hadn't expected that. "That old? How come it was never known? He had to have knocked a girl up at…"

"Fifteen or sixteen years old." replied Hermione while **he **thought about it.

"And you decided to take care of the little Malfoy bastard until they found him a home, is that it? It would explain the new bedroom arrangements."—He commented brightly, thinking it was typical of Hermione to do something like that, after all she dedicated her life to helping others. "Did you think I would get upset over that, love? Not that I like the new bed arrangement**s**, but…"

"Ron!"—She exclaimed, shedding a few tears.—"Don't call him that! He is my son!"

"What?" He asked, not understanding.

"He is my son**;** he is as much Malfoy's as mine." And the few tears that had been falling from her eyes just a moment ago, were transformed into a river when she started crying**. ** Ron, instead of going closer to her and comforting her, stayed silently staring at her while she tried to control her tears.

"When did you have a son?" he asked cautiously after a few minutes, while Hermione dried her tears.

She answered without looking at his face, with her voice broken from the sorrow. "That's the problem, Ron, I haven't had him yet."

Ron didn't understand immediately, but he realized what that meant with no need of further questions; so he remained silent, still staring at Hermione, but no longer astonished, but with an unreadable expression.

"I don't know how it is possible, it had been years since I had last seen Malfoy until he knocked on my door yesterday to leave me with Sebastian… he said he found the boy at his house all of the sudden, and when he found out I was his mother, he brought him with me."

Ron didn't say anything for long minutes in which both remained silent. When he finally spoke, Hermione barely could show the strength to look at his face; his voice was stern, and yet he was gentle in that unique way he always was. "When are you supposed to… have him?"

"In a year."—She answered with her broken voice, and added: "But I don't think the future is written on stone."

"The future knocked on your door yesterday and now is sitting in your living room." He said with a stern voice.

"We can't know that for sure."—She shook her head smoothly and slowly regained her ability to speak.—"Haven't you ever thought that every decision we make equals choosing a path? And what if we compare it with opening a door and leave another one closed? And what if, in truth, choosing a door doesn't mean to leave the other one closed? What if every decision we make establishes a whole new branch of possibilities? What if every choice we make opens up different worlds?"

"What's your point?" Asked an impatient Ron.

"It's just a hypothesis… imagine a world in which Tom Riddle didn't decide to become Lord Voldemort, imagine we had been born in that world, without hatred between mages for blood matters…"

"Do you mean you think that boy comes from a different world in which you get along with Malfoy? Like another dimension?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. Doesn't it make sense? Fourteen years ago Harry could have decided to befriend Draco Malfoy instead of staying with us, he could have been in Slytherin, he could have been in the dark side, and today we could be as good as dead. Why can't there be different dimensions for every choice we make? From a haircut to life and death matters… the possibilities would be endless."

"It's possible; just like it's also possible that the boy comes from the future of our dimension, probably more possible."

"I don't know Ron, but believe me when I tell you I've never intended to get together with Malfoy." She said.

"But you could feel like it."—His eyes were as stern as his voice, and yet, he remained calm when speaking.—"You probably will."

"And what do you want me to do about it? Just yesterday I found out about all this, I haven't even been able to know what's happened to me in my son's time; I understand as little of this as you! I don't know how it could be possible for me to get pregnant by Malfoy in three months time, I don't know in which world something like that could happen; even if you didn't exist, if I didn't love you… I don't know what I'd see in Malfoy if I didn't have you."

"Neither do I." He commented.

"May be it was a mistake."

"A mistake? How? You getting drunk dangerously close to him or something like that?"

"It's more possible than having him out of love."—She shrugged and went on.—"Who knows, maybe one day we have a fight, I get depressed, I go to a bar, I start drinking and it turns out Malfoy is there drinking too… and one thing leads to another and a month later I find out I am pregnant and I don't know who the father is."

"I can't see you going to a bar over an argument. Least to one **where **Malfoy** might be."**

"Me neither."—She sighed, and after a short pause she looked at Ron with pain and asked: "Where**,** does this leaves us?"

"I don't know, Hermione."

"I can't ask for your forgiveness, not only because I haven't done anything… but because I don't think I deserve it, if that makes any sense."—She whispered, trying to remain calm.—"But I don't know if I am guilty, neither do I know if we should worry over this. Sebastian could be gone tomorrow and this matter would be pointless."

"And what if it's your destiny? What if that boy disappears tomorrow, but despite all you know, do or don't do, you end up having him?"

"We don't know if destiny exists."

"We don't know anything."—When he said that, he rose up from the chair and walked to the door.—"But when you do know anything, Hermione… you know what? I don't really know."

Without even saying goodbye, he opened the door with his magical wand and left, he walked through the living room without stopping to look at the boy, neither wanting to look at Hermione's face.

The moment Ron closed the door behind him, Sebastian dropped the book he had been reading and cautiously walked to the kitchen, where he saw his mother holding her head over the table, covering her face with her hands.

Sebastian had no experience at all in that kind of situations, the thing was he had never seen someone cry in his life; he had been forbidden to cry because it was a sign of weakness; torn between what he had been taught and seeing his mother sad, he felt very awkward, but he encouraged himself to go to her and touch her arm to make her know he was there.

When she felt him, Hermione dropped her hands and, with no need of thinking it over, she hugged him, not shedding tears any longer, she couldn't allow herself to cry in front of her son, he didn't have to know about her fight with her boyfriend.

But the child, not needing to ask anything, had already decided Ron was guilty for his mother's sadness, that's how he started feeling an intense hatred towards him.

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a/n: There we go. Another chapter translated. How do you like it? Remeber Ron's much older here and thus, more mature. Thanks to my new beta Alina for working on this!

And, by the way, I am thinking about writing an episode/chapter/second epilogue of BCM, I miss that story. So tell me, what would you like to read about that?

I'll see you all on next chapter! Thank you for reviewing.


	9. Dealing with Myself

Hermione had been afraid, and she had been right to be afraid. How do you tell your boyfriend after being five years in a relationship with him, that you would probably have a child from another man? And how do you expect him to react fine and decide to remain with you? He had reacted pretty well considering he hadn't raised his voice nor had he had a tantrum, although it was rather painful to see him leaving in silence too.

But she had to be strong, she couldn't start crying in front of her son, she had to be strong for him and not think in the repercussions of his presence. Besides, he was a child above it all, and he was not to be blamed for anything. It was Malfoy's fault, that was for sure, she couldn't certainly know if it was her fault, but it sure was Malfoy's.

All she had to do was make an effort and maintain a normal life rhythm for her own sake, and her child's too, he deserved so. So she decided to block any thought about Ron, at least for the rest of the day, and help her son with his history lessons; after all, the Malfoys hadn't taught him anything about muggle history, as expected. The child barely knew what a monarchy was; thankfully, seeing him and talking to him helped her block her thoughts about other people.

Four hours of muggle studies later, her house telephone rang; Hermione knew for sure she wouldn't be lucky enough to attend and listen to Ron's voice, neither some person trying to sell her something; no, it would surely be someone she'd have to give explanations to.

And, just like she had thought, it was her mother.

"Hermione! Molly Weasley just called; tell me you are not pregnant and you didn't leave Ron!"

The younger girl sighed and replied carefully, knowing someone else besides her mother was listening too. "Not really, mom."

"But what did that boy tell his mother for her to tell me something like that?" She asked with the same concern she had before in her voice.

"It's complicated; but the thing is… he was the one who left me." Tiredly replied Hermione.

"Oh, my sweet, I am so sorry, Hermione. Don't you want to stay home with us this weekend? You'll feel better." Her mother always tried to have her for the weekend; she was not going to miss such a chance.

"I don't have time for that… may be next weekend." Said Hermione.

"Hermione, you can't behave that way. Dealing with your job will only make you feel worse. You can't forget from one day to the other about a five year relationship. You need support!"

The fact that her mother was reminding her about that; that she wanted to forget so badly, wasn't doing her any good; she had a seven year old just a few feet away and she couldn't have her voice breaking in front of him, she couldn't have a break down with him in the same room.

"Please, don't remind me of that." —She said in almost a whisper.—"Right now I can't think about it."

"What can be more important than this, sweetheart?" Wondered her mother.

"I'll call you later and I'll explain, all right?"

The communication was off and Hermione went back to Sebastian's side, who watched her curiously; there was questioning in his eyes, he wanted to ask something, but he wasn't sure about it.

"Why don't you ask me whatever you are thinking about?" She asked him calmly, making a huge effort in order to show herself normal.

"My grandparents always say I ask too many questions. They don't like it." He replied.

She didn't find it odd at all; that had to be one of the reasons why the child was so obedient and fearful, his life had been commanded by very strict people, people he couldn't question.

"You can ask me whatever you like; I'd like you to do so." She said.

"Really?" He asked in awe.

Hermione nodded her head and smiled at him to cheer him up. "Ask away."

"Why were you speaking to that grey tube?"

Grey tube? Of course, the child had no idea what a telephone was. She already had explained to him—in a very simple way—what electricity was, about the lamps, cars, her notebook, and lots of kitchen appliances he had never seen in his life. The muggles were for him a whole world apart, without any doubt. It wasn't odd among pure blood families, but in his case, the Malfoy's had reached an extreme point.

"It's a telephone; it's for communicating, like floo powder and chimneys." She explained.

"So you were speaking to my grandmother?"

"Yes, to my mother." Hermione said proudly.

"I didn't know I had another grandmother. Can I meet her?"

"We'll see." She didn't know if it was the best idea to present him to her mother, it was already hard enough to be so close to him, her mother would probably get as close. She had no doubt she could love him like life itself, the problem was she would have to forget about him sometime, someday, and that was something to consider.

But she couldn't hide from her mother the fact that she had a grandchild, despite being from another time or dimension; she had promised to tell her what was going on that same night—when the child was asleep—and there was no doubt she'd want to meet him. And she would ask the same questions that had no answer yet, and Hermione would feel even worse regarding Ron, whom she did not want to think about at the moment. In truth, deep inside, she hoped that despite whatever could happen; Ron would go back to her. That idea helped her feel most calm while she continued explaining Sebastian the most basic stuff information a seven year old should know about the United Kingdom's history.

When Hermione thought; it was time to finish the lesson, the sun was setting and the child looked tired, and yet he never showed any boredom, he was still showing interest for the country's history, which he had just come to know; and, besides, he also asked questions regarding other countries he knew well, such as France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland… and she had to answer with the truth and explain to him she didn't have all the answers, but luckily, the most elemental information she had knowledge of appeared to satisfy the child. He was just a child after all.

Once he was too tired to continue asking international questions, Hermione started making dinner, and he, again, was next to her watching her every move. When the night came, then it was time for Sebastian to go to bed, Hermione felt so tired as if she had been running a marathon.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked, lying down on his bed.

Hearing that for the twentieth time that day made her reconsider the Malfoy's deal, may be the questioning restriction was more linked to her son's personality than to theirs.

"Tell me."

"Can I call you mom?"

Hermione felt a lump in her throat when she heard that, and her heart beat faster; she had never in her life thought she'd hear something of that sort. She had realized Sebastian didn't call her mom or mother, she had assumed it was normal since he had never had one, and the idea didn't annoy her at all, it was just a little bit odd since it meant believing for real that she had a son, which was incredible despite it all, and it also meant they had a link with one another.

"Of course." She replied with a shy smile before kissing his forehead and leaving the room.

Once the door was closed behind her, she walked up to the sofa and fell there; what she wanted the most was to have a blank mind, not to think about anything, but having a moment for herself meant remembering what happened with Ron and everything that implied being linked to her son.

It was an odd situation, on one hand she felt absolutely sad for what happened with Ron, on the other hand she felt happy because she had a strong attachment to her son, but she also knew that wasn't healthy, because the child wouldn't stay forever. It was overwhelming, and thus, she almost cried, hoping Sebastian didn't hear anything.

How could she deal with that kind of situation? How can a person be between the love of a definitive boyfriend and the love of a son who could leave her from one day to the other? The fact of his leaving worried her as much as Ron's reaction once he found out. Could he leave all the past behind once the child returned to his time? Could Ron be with her knowing that sometime could have been a possibility that she'd have a son with Malfoy? And what would happen to Sebastian if he returned to his world and found himself without her? Could he go back to a normal life? Would he even remember her?

The telephone rang and interrupted her thoughts, she sighed deeply, she knew who it was. Her own mother, who wouldn't rest until she came up to the truth _of the matter_.

"Mom?" she asked when she answered the phone, her voice was pitiful.

"_Hermione, have you been crying? What happened? I spoke to Molly Weasley again and…"_

Of course those two had been talking to each other, both women had been planning Ron, and Hermione's wedding behind their backs after all. They got along pretty well, they had become friends in the past years, surely Molly gave her mother all the details she could get from Ron, which probably wouldn't be many nor coherent knowing him.

"What did she tell you?"

"_Something like you've seen the future and you'll have a son with another man?"_

"It's something like that." —when she said that, she heard her mother silence her own yell, and taking advantage of the silencing spell on the living room, Hermione continued: "But it's not exactly that. The thing is I have a guest, a guest that comes from the future, or maybe from another dimension, I don't know… but it turns out he is my son."

There was only silence on the other side of the phone, so Hermione added: "And no, he is not Ron's son."

"_What does this mean, Hermione?"_ Asked her mother in a whisper after another long pause.

"I'd like to know." —She replied and then sighed, she didn't want to start telling her mother of all the possibilities she had thought of, she had already done that too many times and was worn out physically and emotionally.—"Do you believe in destiny, mom?"

"_I think you can tell me more about destiny than I can, my child. Do you think that… visitor is your destiny?"_

"I find it hard to believe considering Draco Malfoy is the father?"

"_That boy you couldn't stand at school?"_

"The one and only."

"_Oh, Hermione…"—_Hermione imagined her mother shaking her head in that pause.—_"When will you bring him home so your father and I can meet him?"_

That was what was missing, and Hermione assumed her mother had been waiting to ask that question for a long time. The idea of being a grandmother was very exciting for her, no matter who the father was, and despite the fact that her daughter was having an emotional crisis.

"I don't know mom."

"_Bring him along tomorrow. How old is he?"_

It was most usual that when Hermione couldn't decide to do something, her mother made the decision for her, even if it was against her will. But maybe it would be useful to have her mother meeting him, so she could have someone she trusts to leave him with for a few hours, so she could think and fix her own problems without having to take care of him. Besides, the child wanted to meet his other grandmother, why deny him that?

"Seven years old."

"_I thought he'd be much older! What's his name?"_

"Sebastian."

"_What an adorable name! Why did you call him that?"_

"I haven't got an idea, mom, I haven't asked him." —she sighed again, and added: "And he doesn't know he has traveled to the past, I am trying to have him leading a normal life, and he doesn't need to find out."

"_No? How's that? In the future you have the same things you have now? Will you be exactly the same? How can he not notice?"_

"I am not in his future, mom." —Hermione could easily imagine the horror in her mother's face at that moment.—"I don't know why nor how, but that's how it is. The child believes one day his father decided he could meet his mother, of whom he knew nothing about. All he had of me was a picture."

"_But…?"_

"I don't know, I have no idea. He is too young to have performed any kind of spell; it would be very odd that he could have done something like that without a magic wand and being so young, almost impossible. And he cannot know he isn't in his time."

"_No, of course not." —_replied her mother after a short pause_.—"It would be terrible if he found out, imagine such a young child questioning his own existence!" _

"I'll see you tomorrow, mom."

And she hung up the phone; Hermione loved her mother, but she didn't have the strength to listen to the same questions she had been asking herself. She felt devastated, and she couldn't even have a moment of peace. The owl on the window wasn't making it any better.

Of course, the animal had a letter. She grabbed it, and then she realized it had the Malfoy's seal. She felt disgusted immediately.

"Miss Granger,

You are invited to have lunch with us on Sunday at 12 o'clock, at the Warrington muggle restaurant, on Maida Vale 129, London. My wife and I expect you to come with the child. There is a map attached for you.

Lucius Malfoy.

PS: Resistance will be useless."

Hermione complained for herself when she finished the letter. Hadn't she had enough to deal with that day? First Ron, then her mother, and now the Malfoys were coercing her with that invitation. She was sure that if she made up some excuse, they would appear at her apartment at the date and time they had established in the letter just so they could get away with whatever they were planning. Would it be of any use to postpone it? What could go wrong? The worse thing that could happen—and most possible—was that she would have a break down. But at least her son would be happy.

And what was that about a muggle restaurant? The most logical explanation she could think of was that they didn't want a public exposition; and since she had no intention of going to Malfoy Manor with Sebastian, they would have thought that it would be best to choose something muggle, where other wizards and witches couldn't see them and ask questions. No doubt they didn't want everyone else to know they had a half blood grandson, it would ruin their reputation among the pure blood society that still hated everything muggle related, even though now they had to hate in silence.

Which made her question again what they could want of him; could it be just the need of finding out things about the future what made them want so eagerly to know Sebastian? Or was there anything else? Was she doing the right thing by accepting the invitation—even if it was useless to reject it? At least she knew for sure that the Malfoys couldn't there do anything evil, even if they were surrounded by muggles.

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A/N: I am sorry for the delay, but unless someone wants to translate for me... well, I'll try to update faster next time anyway! See you and thank you for your support.


	10. A Day of Recreation

Hermione had never imagined the day her mother would meet her grandson; she just thought about the moment she'd have a child and she would be lying on a hospital bed with a newly born in her arms, and her mother would be by her side admiring him or her too. But today she had to prepare a seven year old to meet his grandmother for the first time; which would be far more complicated than showing a few hours old baby in her arms.

Besides, she had imagined that baby would have red hair and blue eyes instead of blond hair and grey eyes. Thank Merlin her mother didn't seem to mind about that little detail, she was too thrilled about meeting her first grandchild, one that probably wouldn't get to exist.

But Hermione wouldn't allow herself to think about that; she had to put a smile on her face when looking at the child (which wasn't hard for her since looking at his face made her smile immediately), and act as calmly as possible; she couldn't inflict any insecurity or fear into her son. It wouldn't be neither reasonable nor responsible.

Sebastian was thrilled on the way to Hermione's parent's home. They traveled by train from London. Everything he saw was reason enough to ask more questions and for her to give more explanations. Even the food—which Hermione didn't think was any different from what she ate everyday—he found interesting.

As they came down from the train, her parents were waiting for them already. When Hermione introduced Sebastian to them, she realized the boy was being pretty shy and didn't know what to say; probably because her mother, Mrs. Granger, smiled, hugged and kissed him the moment she saw him. She even wanted to hold his hand to take him to the car, but Hermione intervened when she realized the child was clinging to her leg.

"You are pressuring him, mom; let me deal with this for a moment." Hermione asked, realizing the child would feel overwhelmed by her mother's displays of affection. It was a big change to go from one strict and serious grandmother to another that would spoil him every chance she got.

Hermione's father, on the other side, wasn't as effusive as his wife, and was far more respectful of the boy, of whose existence he had known just the day before, and could hardly understand. But it was him who managed to help the boy to overcome his fear of climbing into the car, and it was him whom Sebastian appeared to be more interested with. Hermione and him were on the back seat, while her parents were on the front. Hermione had to be very careful explaining to Sebastian about the seat belt, since she feared that he'd be more scared than he already was to travel by car when he realized it actually could be dangerous; he seemed to fear small spaces.

"How are you doing back there, Sebastian?" Asked Hermione's mother turning around as much as she could to take a look at the child's face, who still seemed unsure of what to say.

"Fine. It's more comfortable than the train; but not as fast. Why can't it go faster?" He asked.

"It can go faster, but it must not."—Said his recently met grandfather. "It can go as fast as a train, but it wouldn't be safe, so it's forbidden."

"Are you excited about getting to know our home, sweetheart?" asked his grandmother.

"Yes," he replied after thinking about it for a moment. "I want to know what a muggle house looks like."

The grown ups laughed when they heard that—Hermione with much more discretion—and Sebastian blushed a little, thinking he had said something silly. During all the way to Hermione's parent's home, which didn't last much more than twenty minutes, his grandmother made sure to ask about all his likes and dislikes, feeling shocked—along with her husband—at how little the child knew about the world, particularly of the muggle world.

When they arrived home, Sebastian got off of the car with little help, and remained standing for a long moment observing the curious house he had in front of his eyes. He had seen plenty of houses on the road, but he wanted to remember that one specifically.

"It's like a fairytale house." He commented in awe.

"Is it? Such as?" Asked his mother with sudden interest while she took his hand—she had realized she did that often, even though it was completely unnecessary—to go all the way to the door.

"Grandmother told me a story that had a house with a triangular roof like that one, and white wood on the walls and a red door…"—He described checking every detail meticulously—"And those windows in the front, and the trees and flowers all around…"

"There are many houses in the neighborhood that have this same architectural style." Commented Mrs. Granger.

"But they don't have centaurs inside." Said Sebastian.

"No, not that I know of."—Hermione's mother laughed.—"Just humans around here."

Sebastian appeared more pleased with his grandparent's house than with his mother's, but he didn't complain at all about it. He particularly liked the armchairs—that he found quite comfortable—and the amount of rooms there were, although the house was tiny in comparison to Malfoy Manor, it was indeed cozier.

"Why don't we live here, mom? There's more room." He asked sitting on the table while Hermione helped her mother serve lunch.

Hermione's parents immediately fixated their eyes on Hermione with a mixture of curiosity and hope. Hermione repressed a sigh and felt the muscles in her neck tighten; her parents hadn't been thrilled when she wanted her independence and leave her birth home, despite it being better for her. It was just that Hermione was an only child, and they felt that after having her for only 11 years and after finishing school they would have more time with her, but no, soon after she finished her last year at Hogwarts, Hermione had decided to leave home, getting an apartment—and a job, of course—in London.

"Because I have—I mean—_we_ have an apartment in London, where I work and you will go to school. It would take us too long to travel back and forth," she said choosing her words very carefully.

"But if they had floo service here it wouldn't take us long at all." reasoned Sebastian.

"Sebastian has a point, Hermione dear. Your room is intact, and we could have the guest room fixed for Sebastian. If only you didn't refuse us having our own floo, everything would be much more simple." Her mother, of course, would take advantage of the situation, and her father would cooperate.

"Besides, here the boy could have a garden to play in and just a few metres from here we have a park with games for children, that one you used to play at when you were little, ¿remember? It would be great for the boy to have an outdoors space to be at instead of living locked up in a tiny apartment in London," said her father.

"And it would make us so happy to have you both here," added her mother.

Her parents hadn't missed their chance to put her between a rock and a hard place. Her son was very interested about the idea, and her parents could barely hide how much it meant to them to have their daughter and grandson living under the same roof. But above everything else, Hermione didn't want to loose her independence; at some point Sebastian would leave, things with Ron would be fixed, and she wasn't willing to live at her parent's house if she had the chance not to, even though she loved them, privacy and liberty were a part of her life that she would miss terribly if she returned to them; after all, she was a 24 year old grown up woman, she had been living alone for the past three years and she liked it. Even though 'living alone' wasn't as literal as it sounded, since Ron would be more in her home than in his parents'. Besides, there was the fact that not only her parents would become too fond of their grandson—who would eventually leave—but her mother would take it upon herself to raise him.

"There's a park near my building as well," replied Hermione, as calm as possible. "And we are fine in our apartment, right?" She asked to Sebastian, hoping he would be on her side.

"Yes, but may be we would be better off here," said Sebastian, uncertain, shrugging slightly. "Besides, they want us to stay, don't you want to make them happy, mom?" His voice, as well as his eyes, were completely sweet and innocent, he was too young to realize the part he was playing in his grandparents' scheme to make Hermione return to them.

"Oh, just listen to him, Hermione! He is so adorable!" Exclaimed her mother, unable to stop herself from grabbing his face and kissing him on the cheek. The child blushed and seemed to reconsider the proposal.

"I think we've had enough changes this week." Hermione smiled at Sebastian, hoping that would end the conversation, and then she looked warningly at her parents, hoping they would drop the subject.

After lunch, Hermione helped her mother wash the dishes while Sebastian went to the backyard with his grandfather, who was determined to teach him what football was, although there were only two players. Hermione could watch from the kitchen window how her father taught Sebastian to play with a football, which, of course, he had never seen in his life. The child seemed pretty amused kicking the ball with his grandfather.

"He is adorable," said her mother, standing by Hermione's side.

"He is," said Hermione, who knew it by heart already. "And, you know, I would really appreciate you didn't use him like you did today. It was very low of you, mom."

"But what are you saying? Hermione, I just…" She tried to defend herself, but was quickly interrupted.

"I know your intentions are good, mom, and I know there's nothing that would make you happier than having both of us living here, and that living in a house with a garden instead of an apartment surrounded by buildings would be better for Sebastian, but…" Hermione sighed deeply, turning away from her mother's eyes to look at the child playing again, he had a huge smile on his face. "But, I can't leave all I have accomplished and have behind and come and live here just to please you knowing he could disappear any moment, mom. That boy over there is real just for today, at this moment… but at some point he will disappear from our lives and he might not return."

Hermione's mother sighed deeply too when she heard that and remained silent for a moment, while she watched, along with Hermione, the child kicking the ball back and forth with his grandfather.

"But he exists," whispered her mother after a while. "He exists, he is here and now. Even if the opportunity for you to have something to do with that man doesn't happen and… and therefore the chance to have Sebastian, we have to enjoy him while he is with us dear. He is a gift, every child is a gift."

"I know," replied Hermione in a sorrowful voice, not very far from breaking down. "But we must be realistic. I am willing to give him everything I can, and the best of it; but I cannot go too far, starting a new life completely different like you want me to, mom… Besides… I trust Ron will come back to me, he just needs time to think things through."

"And what if this is what was meant to happen, Hermione? What if Ron was supposed to leave you so…?"

"If Ron was supposed to leave me, he would have left me for a totally different reason and at another time. It doesn't make sense to think that in the future I had a child with Malfoy because Ron left me because he met the child I would have had with that other man seven years from now."

"Well, let's assume nothing of this happened; Ron left you for another reason and somehow you end up having that child with that Malfoy guy," her mother said.

"You mean that yesterday, if Sebastian hadn't been with me, Ron could have found another reason to leave me?" asked Hermione.

"It could have been yesterday, tomorrow, in a month, who knows! Imagine the sole presence of that child could have changed a thousand things already that would have happened hadn't he been here."

"What you say is like my doors theory." Commented Hermione.

"Which one, dear?" asked her mother.

"My theory is… that for every choice that comes upon us we have two or more ways to go; when we choose one we leave another one behind, but we could have chosen the other one, and we can't know what would have happened had we chosen differently, but may be for every choice that is presented to us our path divides by two and we actually choose both, only that it happens in different dimensions…"

"Multiple dimensions?" Her mother smiled ironically. "Ever since we received that owl with a letter thirteen years ago, I've heard the most unbelievable things."

"It's not something that has been proved, mom, not in any world I know of. It's just that it seems so hard to believe there could be a situation in which I fell in love with Draco Malfoy… assuming I actually fall in love with him in the future."

"Why not? You are both grown ups, may be one day you'll be locked in a elevator and…"

"That's not who I am, mom!" Complained Hermione rather loudly.

"I was going to say that may be at some point you find each other in a situation in which you are forced to communicate with one another and it turns out you find out you have things in common and you end up liking each other… and you leave Ron."

"And according to your theory, Sebastian's arrival could have ruined the chance of every having that kind of experience." Hermione said.

"Not necessarily, the child is still here, which means there's still a chance for him to be born, isn't it? If his existence turned out to be impossible then he would vanish or something, don't you think?" Her mother paused for a moment and shook her head. "Of course, you understand more of this magical things than me, I was just making a logical assumption."

"Pretty good logic, specially if you rule out my multiple dimension theory." Hermione admitted.

"Another option is fate." Her mother added.

"If such a thing exists." Although fate would be a reasonable explanation, or a very good excuse to save her relationship with Ron… if Ron were silly enough to accept something she said to him such as _'I am sorry, my love, but I couldn't help but sleeping with Malfoy, it was fate.' _But how could fate ever get her together—even for just one night—with Draco Malfoy?

"We will find out soon enough; in the meanwhile, enjoy your son." Recommended her mother.

The day went on fantastically for Sebastian, who went with all the family to visit the muggle park -as he called it- his grandparents told him about; he was even interested in playing with other children his age when his grandfather became too tired to follow his pace, and the hours went by so fast that Hermione and him ended up staying for dinner too.

When the time came to go back home, Sebastian felt like staying there. He wasn't bothered in the least with his grandparents when they said goodbye to him kissing him and hugging him, he even smiled at them and told them he expected to see them soon.

In the train, Sebastian fell asleep leaning against Hermione's body; she watched the landscape outside the window while she wondered—still—if she had done the right thing by allowing her parents to become fond of the boy, and she also wondered what would happen the following day when she met with the Malfoys.

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A/N: Greetings my readers! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I rather like Hermione's interaction with her mother. What do you think? Next chapter the Malfoys approach, see you then!


	11. When Malfoys Approach I

Whilst Sebastian was absolutely thrilled about seeing his paternal grandparents, Hermione was worried and nervous. She could see him practically jumping out of joy, and instead of feeling good for him, she felt pity, because those people he was so eager to see weren't those he thought they were, or at least they weren't as he thought.

The good part was that while she dressed him up—she actually didn't know if it was normal to dress up a seven year old, but she was a first time mother, and a very young one too, but the child didn't seem to mind—and brushed his hair, the boy finally spoke about his life with his grandparents. He mentioned what kind of things they bought him, what they taught him, the places they visited… and many more which made her understand and know more about what it meant to be a Malfoy.

"Grandfather doesn't allow me to eat candy, but grandmother does now and then, but I mustn't let grandfather find out; he would get really angry if he found out." Commented Sebastian.

"What does he do when he is angry at you?" asked his mother.

"He doesn't usually get angry at me because I am always good." He clarified. "But if I make a mistake he punishes me by making me stay in my room, or he doesn't allow me to go to work with him or go horse riding…"

"And what about your grandmother?"

"She never punishes me, she doesn't mind all that much that I make mistakes."

"What sort of mistakes do you make?"

"Sometimes I get up when I mustn't, or I ask questions that are not allowed, or I get dirty in the garden, or I break something although I don't mean to…"

No doubt the Malfoys kept a tight rein on him; Draco had probably been raised in the same manner, but in that case the difference between one boy and the other was impressive. Sebastian was polite and compliant, while Draco had been aggressive and provocative, at least on the outside. Hermione couldn't be sure Draco was the same at home or around his family.

When they arrived to the Muggle restaurant the Malfoys indicated, Lucius and Narcissa were already sitting on a table, disgust written all over their faces, but they changed that when they saw Hermione and Sebastian, they both smiled. Lucius in a gloomy, calculating manner; Narcissa expectantly and somehow sweetly; both slightly anxious.

Sebastian let go of Hermione's hand and hurried to go and greet his grandparents; and she noticed they had chosen a particularly expensive restaurant, for which neither her nor the child were properly dressed. Although they didn't seem to mind much, since Lucius was wearing a wizard robe that every Muggle in the place had noticed, while Narcissa's robe clung tightly to her body giving the appearance of a Muggle dress, making her less noticeable. Either way, the four of them looked like the black sheep of the restaurant. Hermione and her son because they weren't properly dressed, Lucius and Narcissa because they appeared to be part of a sect, which wasn't so far from the truth.

"Mister Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy. Good day." Hermione greeted them while she sat down. The table was round, so she had her son on one side and Lucius on the other, and Narcissa right in front of her, whom after greeting her dismissed Hermione immediately and focused on her grandchild, asking him about everything he had done that day; the child didn't seem to mind. Listening to Sebastian tell every little thing of his day was amusing. He related every detail, from the hour he got up to the type of lotions Hermione used to comb his curly hair.

Everything seemed to go well, the Malfoys didn't pay much attention to her, they were very focused listening the child's stories about everything he had seen, everything he had done. They probably expected to get useful information, but they didn't seem to be getting any closer than Hermione, they had as much information as Hermione, which meant, they had nothing.

Hermione was shocked to see the prices in the menu. Just when the fear was written all over her face, Lucius Malfoy looked at her and laughed haughtily. "Worry not, Miss Granger, you are invited."

She had expected it so, since she wasn't planning on paying a cent of her money for that lunch, she didn't want to be there at all after all. Anyhow, she had never seen such high prices in her life, and that only made her more uncomfortable.

"Mom has a tiny apartment, it's odd but it works. Did you know she doesn't have much money?" He told his grandmother, who only nodded her head in response, the amazement of seeing and listening to her grandson, who besides was so similar to her son at that age, prevented her from showing a proper disgust-face due to being in a place filled with Muggles.

"You really don't mind that I stay with her, grandmother? You don't mind? I will have to go to school, but we can see each other any time we want, right?" Sebastian asked Narcissa, who stared at him with some sort of amazement. Hermione didn't know if she should find it odd that the child asked for permission when Hermione had told him she had his custody; it seemed that despite that he needed his grandmother's approval. It made some sense, after all Narcissa had raised him, and by the few things she knew from Draco, one could tell she was a woman used to commanding and ordering other people's lives. But even so, Hermione couldn't help but feel a slight annoyance when listening to her son asking for permission to do something to Narcissa Malfoy, even if she was his grandmother.

"Of course… of course I don't mind, sweetheart," she answered with some difficulty, her reply seemed to be more a doubt than a real answer, but the child thought it was good enough. Hermione was thankful that the Malfoys, even though they were quite opportunistic, at least followed the plan of making the boy believe he was still on his time.

"What's that about going to school, Sebastian? asked a very interested Lucius before Hermione could interject about that tiny matter. "Don't you need a few more years to go to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, but that will happen afterwards, I'll go to a Muggle school while I wait." When the Malfoys heard that, their faces turned into one of horror and disgust. "It's because my mother can't take care of me all day long and she won't have time to teach me."

"No Malfoy has ever had a Muggle education boy, what makes you think you will be the first?" Lucius tone of voice became harsh, just like his eyes, he was upset as if he had any say in the matter. Sebastian's face turned to one full of shame and looked down to the floor.

Hermione hurried by his side to interject. "That's my decision, Mister Malfoy," said Hermione defiantly.

"Of course is your decision." Lucius turned around to looked at her in the eyes; his voice sounded despiteful, but he appeared to be calmer than before. "No one else would think of doing such a thing." Before Hermione could say anything else, Lucius stared at the child again and asked: "What do you think about continuing your studies with me, boy? Haven't I taught you what's worthy of a Malfoy?"

"He won't continue his studies with you." Hermione interjected again, now finding it harder to contain her own anger. "He will go to a Muggle school, he will behave as a Muggle, and he will learn like a Muggle while he is with me. And he won't be worthless because of that."

Narcissa stared at Hermione with hatred in her eyes, Lucius appeared to be biting his tongue as he stared at her, and Sebastian didn't know what to say or do.

"We shall discuss this later." Suggested Lucius, cautiously; the idea was most horrible for him, but at the same time he knew where he was standing (or sitting for that matter), and arguing with the mother of the boy wouldn't be of any use for his purposes. And, seeing that Hermione appeared to be about to implode, he made a slight effort to appear calmer, and ask, "Do you remember going over finances with me, boy?"

Sebastian nodded, the situation made him feel awkward since his mother and his grandfather looked upset and about to start an argument, he hurried to reply. "Everyday, grandfather."

So that was it, assumed Hermione, finances. Lucius Malfoy was interested in finding out how his business would be in the future, that had to be it. If they went over their family finances every day, surely the boy would have knowledge that would be of use for his grandfather, and assuming Lucius had made the same assumption as she, surely would be interested in the child for that reason.

"Of course, I use to do the same with your father when he was your age. I used to test your father every Friday. You didn't think that because you are living with your mother you won't have to be tested any longer, do you?"

Sebastian looked dumbfounded, he shrugged and, with his voice filled with insecurity, he replied, "I like tests."

"Of course you like them, you are your mother's son after all." Lucius was fast to mend his mistake, and he smiled; he had probably thought the child would have Draco's attitude. He stared at him with greed, and Hermione didn't like that one bit.

"However, now that he lives with me there's no need for him to mind your family business, Mr. Malfoy."

"Oh, _Hermione_," interjected Narcissa for the first time, Hermione had never been questioned by that woman, and was particularly impressed to hear her name on Narcissa's lips, even if she was only pretending to be polite. "Don't you believe it would be too sudden to change everything for this child? To be with us, _just like he used to not too long ago_, won't harm him at all. Besides, don't you have work to do or something like that?" She smiled and winked to the boy before she went on, "Don't you want to come back home once in a while, at least for a few hours, sweetheart?"

Sebastian stared at her with hopeful eyes; it seemed he wanted to spend time with them, after all, Narcissa's words were true: they couldn't change the child's life just like that; besides, he himself had told Hermione he expected to be visited by his grandparents, they were an important part of his life and there was no possible explanation Hermione could come up with in order to restrain him from seeing them. But the Malfoys couldn't possibly be the best chance for her son to have a normal life. Maybe the Malfoys from his time were, but not these Malfoys whom only wanted to use the child for their own benefit. Hermione wasn't even going to consider allowing them to take him, even if it was for a few hours.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, I don't think Malfoy Manor is a good place to be for Sebastian, Mrs. Malfoy…" Hermione shook her head, if they wanted to play dirty, she would play dirty as well. "I can't allow him suffering his father's presence again."

" Actually, his father…" said Lucius cautiously "is in a business trip and we won't be seeing him for several days, so that won't be a problem."

When Sebastian heard that, he was taken aback again, and he asked: "You changed your mind, grandfather? Now you believe he can handle our business?"

Lucius realized his mistake and it took him a little bit longer than usual to give an answer. "Draco has proven himself worthy."

"But in the last rehabilitation center they said…" Sebastian couldn't finish, he was quickly interrupted by Narcissa.

"Your father is fine now, you know? We have managed to get him to have a more normal life rhythm."

Narcissa's words seemed to make the situation worse, since Sebastian couldn't understand how his father could recover in a manner of days from an addiction that had lasted for years.

The three adults looked at him expectantly as he digested that information followed by his own conclusions. "So… so it was true, wasn't it?" He spoke in a whisper, his head looking down, his gaze melancholic. "Father always said everything would be better when I disappeared."

Those words seemed to have a similar effect in all of the three grown ups there; while Hermione felt a deep sorrow for her child, Narcissa seemed to take pity on him, and Lucius was left speechless.

"No, it's nothing like that, sweetheart," said Narcissa, showing something Hermione had never seen on someone like her: compassion. "We have missed you a lot; we only let you stay with your mother because we know it's the best for you."

"Then why couldn't I meet her until now, grandmother?" he asked, not daring to look straight at them; that was probably one of those questions he wasn't allowed to ask.

"Why do you think so, boy?" Interjected Lucius, showing himself interested and superior at the same time. The child seemed to believe his attitude was appropriate for the situation.

"I never understood how can a person disappear…" he said cautiously.

When they heard that, both Malfoys turned their heads to face Hermione, who looked absolutely puzzled while their judgmental gaze fell on her. Was that the explanation for her absence, that she had disappeared? And what was that supposed to mean? Had she died? Had she abandoned him? Had she been kidnapped?

"That's what they told you that happened to me?" she asked, surprised, "that I disappeared?"

The child nodded his head and then looked at his grandmother, as if he were expecting her to go on with the explanation. Narcissa, naturally, could barely conceal her nervousness since she had no idea what to say. But she was a high society lady, and as such she wasn't allowed to show herself puzzled or nervous, therefore she made a huge effort in order to compose herself as soon as possible.

"That's how it was," she said, pretending to be completely certain of her words. "One day you were gone, just like that. We couldn't find you anywhere. May be you could explain to us what happened Hermione."

As it was to be expected the burden of having to give Sebastian some sort of explanation fell on Hermione. After all, wouldn't it be better if Hermione appeared as the guilty party and not Sebastian's well-meaning grandparents?

"Just a few days ago I found out I had a child," replied Hermione gritting her teeth, and staring at Narcissa with a little bit of hatred in her eyes, while trying at the same time to conceal it from Sebastian.

"And how did father know where were you after all these years? Or did he always know and didn't want to tell us?" Wondered Sebastian.

"I hadn't seen your father in years. I don't know how he found out where I was, neither can I explain the fact that I didn't know I had a son," she explained, knowing that finding out where she lived was pretty simple, one just had to look into the Minister of Magic employees' records, or asked a common acquaintance. Luckily, due to his young age, the boy didn't find it impossible for a woman to live not knowing she had a child, or that she had been pregnant; he was too young to understand such things.

"Well, he said…" Narcissa started, and Hermione immediately recognized her lying tone. "that he found out where she lived, and then decided that it would be in your best interest to get to know her and live with her. Wasn't that what you wanted, Sebastian?"

Sebastian appeared to be more satisfied with that answer, although a little surprised. He nodded his head in agreement. "I always wanted to meet you, mom," he told Hermione, looking straight into her eyes with hope, and a cheerful smile. It was contradictory to listen to him and look at him knowing he didn't even know the three adults there were taking advantage of his naiveté in order not to lose face in front of him. He shrugged and added: "Still, it's odd that father wanted to do something like this for me."

"Well, people can change, you know?" Hermione told him, trying to cheer him up a little.

"Of course they can, and your father has changed a lot; if you saw him now, you'd think he's an entirely different person, sweetheart." Interjected Narcissa, trying to plant a seed, Hermione assumed, which didn't seem like a good idea.

Sebastian didn't appeared convinced, and, really, it didn't make much sense to think that his father, who had always proven himself to be indifferent and aggressive towards him, could change from one day to another for his son's benefit.

When the first course arrived Hermione felt uncomfortable again, realizing even her son had better manners than her, just like the Malfoys. It wasn't like she didn't have manners, it was just that she wasn't so strict as they wer: only wrists were allowed over the table, they only used the fork with their left hand, and they sat so upright they looked like lamp posts.

"Why did we come to a Muggle restaurant, grandfather?" asked Sebastian, as he realized they were not in a restaurant for wizards.

Lucius wasn't surprised by the question, in reality he had been expecting someone to inquire about it. And he replied just like before, trying to get on well with the kid, as if it were necessary.

"Your grandmother and I though your mother would feel more comfortable in a place like this," said Lucius.

"I have no problem with wizarding restaurants." Retorted Hermione, who didn't know for sure if she should feel insulted by the assumption that she couldn't be in the wizarding world.

"It doesn't seem to be very different from the others." Commented the child.

"Muggles aren't as different as you believe." Hermione took the opportunity to tell him while the Malfoys had to restrain the urge to contradict her. Their features were ones of disgust.

The meal went by without much conflict, the Malfoys made sure to get all the information they could from Sebastian, which wasn't much. Lucius basically wanted to know how his shares would perform in the market in the following years, and how many and which types of business he would have, for which he had to ask the most subtle questions he could, telling Sebastian that he was testing him since he had missed his last Friday exam, and also to inform Hermione about everything they had. On the other hand, Narcissa was interested in learning about health matters in the family, specially her son's; it was a touchy subject since the child didn't feel comfortable talking about his father, and at the same time it was odd for him that his grandmother asked such questions.

Hermione hoped the Malfoys' pretensions didn't go further than those kind of harmless things, because she wasn't willing to allow her child to have much more contact with them, no more than this. Besides, she knew that eventually they would lose interest once they got what they wanted.

It was when they were finishing their lunch when Sebastian decided to make a pause.

"Grandfather, I have to go the little boys' room." The child got up and stood next to Lucius, expecting him to go with him. Again, Hermione wasn't sure if boys that age were supposed to be accompanied to the bathroom, but it appeared to be something he was used to, at least in public areas, and it also appeared that Lucius was the one who was supposed to go with him.

Hermione assumed that Lucius would feel disgusted by the mere thought, but instead he complied without turning a hair, and making her react: she couldn't allow her son to be alone with that man, even if he had been so kind to Sebastian, she couldn't trust him.

"Wouldn't you rather go with me?" she asked as she got up in a hurry and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"But you can't go into the men's room, mom." The child looked puzzled again, apparently he couldn't think of going with a woman to a men's bathroom, even if Hermione had thought of taking him to the lady's room, which probably wouldn't be such a good idea for him either.

"You have nothing to worry about, Miss Granger…" Lucius Malfoy got up and carefully took his wand from his cane to leave it next to Hermione's plate. "I can guarantee you that."

She still didn't like the idea, but the act of giving one's wand to another person, to a witch in that case, was quite a powerful guarantee. It was a most unusual act that clearly said he could be trusted. And even if she didn't trust him, she found herself forced to do it at that moment.

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a/n: I know, I am sorry for the delay. I hope next chapter will come faster. Happy hollidays to you all!

PS: On our next chapter, everyone's favorite Malfoy comes along! Stay tuned!


	12. When Malfoys Approach II

Hermione watched, worried, as Lucius Malfoy walked away holding Sebastian's hand as they went to the restroom. It was an odd scene if one thought about it and a terrifying one to her since it wasn't just any arrogant man holding her son's hand even if he was Sebastian's grandfather. It was an ex Death Eater, free only because he was disgustingly rich, and who at the last minute changed sides during a decisive battle.

Narcissa realized Hermione was biting her lip, holding onto Lucius's wand tightly; she seemed to be about to get up and follow them, so the older woman decided to talk to her.

"Lucius was a good father; he did that same thing with Draco when he was that age," she said.

Those words called Hermione's attention and thus, she turned her head to look at Narcissa's face, who surprisingly enough didn't seem to be staring at her with hatred but with curiosity.

"May be he didn't show it often, but he always loved and protected him a lot," she continued.

It was surprising for Hermione to listen to that woman telling her something of that sort, something intimate. But she couldn't help saying, "Sebastian isn't his son."

"But, amazing as it is, he is his grandson. And he looks so much like my Draco. If he didn't have curls and dark blond hair, I could swear he is my son coming from the past."

"His half-blood grandson." Clarified Hermione with a frown on her face, she hated saying something like that, but it was how they thought and she found herself in need of talking about the subject, she needed explanations. "Do you expect me to believe you don't care about that?"

"We aren't in any way harmful for that boy," explained Narcissa, calmed and almost bored by having to say that. "He doesn't really exist in this world, he is just a time traveler; and yet, he still is a Malfoy, and he will be respected as such while he remains here."

It was almost contradictory to hear that, because on one hand, saying he didn't really exist implied they would be most disturbed if he existed, and on the other hand, his existence, being a Malfoy, apparently gave him the right to be treated as a worthy Malfoy. The Malfoys, no doubt, were a family she would never understand.

"What do you want with him exactly?" asked Hermione.

"What could we possibly want, Ms. Granger? I must admit, initially, my husband wasn't all that interested in knowing anything else besides how his existence was possible." When she said that, she appeared all worked up, and preferred to look anywhere else but at Hermione's face. "But after we received his letter we found out he had been raised in the same manner we raised Draco…"

"You mean the family business?" Replied Hermione with bitterness.

"Exactly. At that same age, Draco could already calculate and make an estimate of the value of the market shares. It was instilled in him the knowledge of such matters, even though he wasn't very eager to study, he knew his math and had a good memory. And if you are as good as they say studying…"

"And if Sebastian comes from the future, you'll have a huge advantage in your business." Concluded Hermione, saying out loud what she had already figured out. "But I can't believe that's all."

Narcissa sighed dramatically then and, pretending to be as calm as possible, she made a dismissive gesture with her hand playing down the importance of Hermione's conclusions. "Obviously, Miss Granger, despite how useful this boy might be for our economic matters, we are also interested in knowing how it could be possible for him to exist."

"Of course." Hermione had understood immediately the message hidden within Narcissa's careful words. "You are interested because you don't want it to happen. You don't want him to exist. That's why you don't represent danger to him in spite of the fact that he is half-breed, because if you find out how I could get pregnant by Draco, you'll do everything in your hands to prevent it, and that would be it, you'd end the problem of ever having Mudbloods in your family."

"You should understand, Miss Granger, that Draco has a very respectable fiancée, and it's in the best interest of our family that they continue with their engagement and get married."

"So that they can have Pure-blood children, worthy Malfoy heirs," said Hermione gritting her teeth, feeling outraged in a way she hadn't felt in a long time. Although it was to be expected, it was most logical to think that of the Malfoys. It made even more sense that they wanted to prevent the child's conception rather than approach him due to economical matters, which weren't a real problem for them.

"It's every Malfoy's duty to produce heirs." Explained Narcissa with that serene and bored attitude. "And that child is completely adorable, but it will be better for Draco if…"

Hermione couldn't take it any more, she didn't want to keep listening to that horrible woman looking down on her son because he wasn't a Pure-blood. She wasn't going to stay and listen to her, she didn't even want to look at her face again. So, without any other word, she got up from her seat and blocked Lucius and Sebastian's path to the table.

"We are running late, we are leaving." She explained without looking at Lucius' face while she returned his wand with one hand; with her other hand, she grabbed Sebastian's hand to take him with her.

The child couldn't say goodbye to his grandparents; he looked astonished while his mother practically dragged him along through the restaurant.

At the street, Hermione kept walking, outraged, holding the child's hand. Her bitterness was such that she hadn't even realized just how tight she had been grabbing Sebastian's hand and how fast she was walking. The boy was panting when he spoke.

"Mom, it hurts," he said with a hint of fear in his faltering voice.

It was then that Hermione suddenly came to a halt with the same astonished expression her son was showing. She released his hand all of the sudden and knelt in front of him to face him.

"I am so sorry, did I hurt you?" she asked worriedly.

"No, it's all right," he said as he watched her also with worry and insecurity. "Did you have an argument with my grandmother?" he asked uneasily.

Hermione sighed and looked aside. How could she explain to him what had happened? How could she tell him she wasn't going to allow him to see his grandparents again?

"We talked about something controversial and I couldn't help but get upset." She explained carefully, choosing her words wisely and silently praying the child wouldn't want to know further, but that was inevitable.

"What about?" he asked.

"Adults' stuff." It was an answer he had surely heard before, and it wouldn't make him feel any better, but she couldn't tell him what the problem was. Luckily the child understood he wasn't supposed to ask anything else; that was just how he had been raised.

Hermione stood up and kept walking through London's streets at a more normal rhythm. It was Sunday, therefore, everything was much quieter than on weekdays. The streets weren't crammed with people, so it was easy to walk around. Hermione took advantage of that to entertain her son showing him several interesting areas of the town, places he had never seen since he wasn't a regular inhabitant of the Muggle part of the city.

After a couple of hours, while Sebastian marveled with the London British Museum's antiques, Hermione couldn't stop thinking about what Narcissa had said about preventing him from existing. It was a horrible thought. How could anyone want to prevent the existence of such an adorable child? How could they want information to prevent somehow Malfoy and her from ever getting together?

And how could she even think like them? There was something she was sure about: she loved Sebastian, she wanted him to exist, even if that meant having an affair with Malfoy, a mistake or even rape, never mind how sick it sounded. His existence was worth anything. Even not having Ron, despite how heartbreaking that could be.

She had realized children come before romantic partners, and that was the reason she didn't care who the father was, and that was why she could tolerate the idea of not being with Ron, although at the same time she'd wish he'd come back to her. Besides, her having a child with Malfoy didn't mean necessarily that she couldn't later get married and have children with Ron, she was willing, the thing was Ron had to be willing too…

Although, maybe she was the one who had to think it through. Actually, she wondered if she wasn't crazy. Did her thoughts have any sense at all? Did it make any sense wanting to have children with two men? One she loved, the other one she despised. She didn't hate Malfoy, but that man could annoy her like no other.

But Hermione needed him, she was sure of it; she couldn't bear the idea of losing Sebastian. How could she live once he was gone? How could she manage to get along with Malfoy in order to conceive Sebastian? Would it even be possible for them to conceive him? What if they tried and ended up having a completely different child, or a girl?

What would be worse? Leaving the love of her life in order to have a child completely different than expected or simply not having any Malfoy offspring? She was going to love any child she'd have, Malfoy's or Ron's, but what she really wanted, whom she really wanted, was Sebastian.

The child was excited as he looked at an Egyptian mummy when Hermione suddenly started to cry; people around her watched with odd looks upon their faces, her son looked at her with worry.

"Mom, what is the matter? Are you hurt?" he asked concerned.

Hermione wiped her tears with her hand and nodded slowly. "My head hurts. Do you mind if we leave now?" she asked trying to compose herself. Not only did her head hurt but so did her heart. "We'll be back some other time."

Once in the apartment, Sebastian decided to read a book about the history of Muggle Britain while Hermione opted to go to bed and rest for a bit. All those conflictive thoughts had a lot to do with her headache, stressful as they were she couldn't stop going through those painful options over and over again.

As expected, she fell asleep. Hours later she found Sebastian sleeping by her side, in a tight embrace. Looking and feeling him by her side distressed her even more. Sebastian was such a beautiful child and she loved him so much! How could anyone wish he didn't exist?

Gently, she caressed his head, being careful not to wake him. It was nothing more than a tender gesture, and yet she thought she should do it more often. Carefully she pulled away from him and left the bed. It was too hot so Hermione didn't bother covering him with a blanket, instead she cast a Silencing charm in the room as she walked out.

She sighed profoundly as she exited and immediately started to organize the chaos of books in the living room. Apparently, Sebastian wasn't satisfied with reading just one book but several, probably learning bits and pieces from each of them.

As she finished, Hermione heard a booming bang on the door, so loud, she was glad the Silencing charm was still on so that Sebastian could sleep without interruptions. She confirmed her decision was the right one as she saw who stood at her door.

"What do you want now Malfoy? Not another child to dump on me, I hope?" She asked the blond wizard with sarcasm.

"You are not cooperating Granger." Draco's expression mirrored Hermione's, one of annoyance. His tone just as harsh as hers.

"What am I supposed to be cooperating with?" Hermione frowned, anticipating his answer.

"With information! My parents just…"

"Don't bother talking about your parents Malfoy, I want to believe they are worse than you!" Hermione interrupted Draco.

Sensing that their argument would become heated and rather loud, Hermione sighed and opened the door wider so that Draco could come in. He accepted the invitation and closed the door behind him. Hermione faced him with her arms across her chest. Draco sighed exasperated and tried to compose himself before he started talking.

"Have you asked him how we ended up together?" Draco inquired.

"No. I doubt he knows. He barely knows anything about me and understands very little about human relations." Replied Hermione.

Both appeared calmer and more serious, in spite of being angry at each other. For reasons, some similar, some opposite, facing the situation was hard for both of them.

"What do you mean he doesn't understand about human relations?" He asked.

"You'll have to ask your parents how they raised him. Apparently your mother explained to him that not all children have mothers, that people can disappear and who knows what else to avoid telling him the truth." Hermione shrugged her shoulders, avoiding looking into his eyes. "I don't know how they raised you either."

Draco leaned on the door and folded his arms over his chest. He observed Hermione with bewilderment and interest. "I don't understand how you could abandon you son."

"I'd never abandon any child of mine Malfoy. Is that your explanation for my disappearance in your life? Is that what _disappear_ means to your parents? Abandonment?" She challenged him.

"That's what it sounds like to me." He answered.

"It's something you would do." Hermione responded.

"Something I would do? It's me who keeps the child in the future while you are Merlin knows where!" He protested.

"If I abandoned him…then, he is most definitely not from this dimension. I'd never do something like that." She said.

"Another dimension?" Draco was astonished for a few seconds and then he laughed with arrogance as he said, "What Muggle fantasy is that?"

"It's just a hypothesis," she answered gritting her teeth.

"In that case go through a mirror and let me know how it goes." He mocked her.

In spite of the tenor of the discussion and Draco's arrogant tone, Hermione did her best to calm herself in order to avoid another shouting match.

"Why are you so interested Malfoy? Is it because you believe in fate? That's why it worries you so much?"

If it was the opposite then the Malfoys didn't need to worry about anything or attempt any type of contact. If they didn't believe in destiny then they'd know that letting time go by without neither Draco nor Hermione coming into contact Sebastian would never exist. On the other hand, if they believed in such a thing as fate then, they'd imagine something would happen somehow and they would try to stop it from happening which at the same time be contradictory since fate being fate would mean that what was meant to happen ––whether they tried to avoid it through whatever means necessary or if they allowed things to follow their normal course–– would happen anyway.

"I believe in possibilities." Explained Draco cautiously and with some uneasiness. "I believe fate might exist. As well as it may not. It might exist, but perhaps it is not written in stone. If the former is the case then, I'd find a way to use to my advantage."

"Of course, it would most inconvenient to have a child with me," said Hermione blushing more because of anger than embarrassment. Her fury coming to closer to the surface.

"You mean, it wouldn't be the same for you? Don't you have the Weasel following your trail?" He asked impatiently.

Hermione preferred to ignore the question; she wasn't going to talk about her recent problems with Ron. It might have been the wrong thing to do when she tried to show her anger by avoiding looking at Draco.

"You told him. Please tell me you didn't!" Draco asked, more like demanded while his mouth hung opened and disbelieve was written all over his face.

Such outburst made Hermione turn her gaze towards him with the same perplexity and skepticism he was demonstrating. "You haven't told your girlfriend?"

"For Merlin's sake Granger, I plan on getting married in two months! How do you think she'll take the news?" Draco looked at her as if she was crazy. "I don't need that kind of problem."

"Sebastian is not a problem," she said with anguish in her voice, she couldn't help it. She was dealing with so much already and having Malfoy in front of her treating Sebastian as if he were problem, as if he was a thing to get rid of, didn't help in the least.

Hearing Hermione's pained words Draco felt uncomfortable and decided to tone down his anger. "It's okay, calm yourself," he said cautiously, afraid she might start crying. "We should clarify that I have no interest in you and you have none in me…"

Hermione gazed at him furious, waiting for him to finish his sentence.

"I'll marry my fiancé and you'll go back to Weasley, Potter or whatever boyfriend you have. We'll never have to be involved one with the other." Draco waited for an answer, even if it were just a nod.

Hermione kept quiet, staring at him, studying him. After a while she said, "You talk about your fiancé as if she was an object. Must be common in marriages of convenience, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked gritting his teeth, disliking the insinuations of the woman confronting him.

"Your mother was just as interested. She doesn't want you to break your engagement under any circumstances since it would be most advantageous for your family."

"Where are you going with this Granger?" Draco couldn't help but raise his voice, demonstrating his increasing anger.

Hermione smiled, more like smirked as she answered. "You don't love her."

The man being questioned was speechless. He looked at her angrily but at the same time surprised of her insight.

"My relationship with my fia… with Astoria is none of your business Granger."

"But it is the reason why this worries you so much, isn't it true?" Hermione smiled. "If you were in love with her, if you truly loved her it wouldn't cross your mind to leave her for somebody else. It is not only convenient that you marry some Pure-blood heiress so that your lineage continue but because it would help to clean your family's name. The Greengrass, even thought they are Slytherins, do not have as dark as past as you Malfoys.

Draco was crimson with fury and inhaled deeply before speaking. Letting out the air he had been holding he said raising his voice. "Granger, not now not ever would I attempt to have anything to do with you so you better get rid of that ridiculous idea out of your head."

Once he finished with what he had to say, he turned around to leave Hermione's apartment.

"_Never say never."_ Thought Hermione as she watched him leave.

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A/N: There you go, Draco and Hermione finnaly speak to each other. How did you like that? Please Review! Thank you so much to all those who take a moment of their time to do it. And special thanks to my beta eternaromantica-03 who helped me translating most of this chapter.


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